Sin Eater
by Demon Eyes Laharl
Summary: The Fourth's brother takes care of Naruto...who becomes a soldier for a strange Order. He is called back to accompany the 2 man Team 7 and help them through Wave Country, Chuunin exams... what would Team 7 think of Naruto, who has the ability to eat sins?
1. Prologue

_After the aftermath of Kyuubi, there were 1500 shinobis injured. 1100 of them were maimed, and unable to continue their occupation as a ninja. The other 400 were healing nicely, waiting for the day that they would once again start their missions. They are the lucky people. Even when seriously injured, they have not yet tasted death. _

_500 souls were released from their mortal bodies… they were killed. Defending their home. Defending their honor as a ninja. One of them… the leader of the village… my brother. _

_My job is take souls of unredeemable people. Monsters who commit the most atrocious crimes…for to stop a monster… one must get another monster. My job is also to bless the souls of the noble souls who have departed from this world… so they may rest in peace. _

_I am the Undertaker. I work for The Order. And this… is the story of my only student. _

_The Sin Eater. _

The air was chilling… the cold was sharp and cutting. The sounds of the shovel hitting the dirt repeatedly were nothing but the most rational thing he has heard in a while. Its been years… years since he last dug up a grave for people.

His job most of the time was to take and kill evil men and take their souls. And then leave without a trace. The family of the person he'd purify would bury the body themselves… and swear revenge… blinded by rage. They are the pitiful people. They either know the sins of that soul, yet done nothing, or are ignorant that they don't know the whole story.

People seek revenge… and when they finally meet him… they meet their doom. Pitiful souls. May they Rest In Peace.

"… Oros…" an old voice called.

"Undertaker," the taller man corrected softly, unemotionally, and didn't stop digging the graves. "Hokage. Don't call me by my birth name."

"Undertaker… it's been a while," the Third Hokage greeted. He had just come from the office, and retook his position as Hokage, after Arashi had died. The council has been arguing of the fate of Arashi's son, Naruto, who inside him is the soul of Kyuubi, and so far, the Third has been in a losing battle. If Naruto doesn't leave the village soon, he would be executed soon.

"You didn't visit my grave digging for a social chat, have you?" the Undertaker softly replied. "Get to the point. Don't waste my time."

"It's about Naruto…" the Third said. "He might be executed…"

"The problems of this village, nor their foolish decisions have anything to do with me."

"He's your brother's son!" the Third stated.

The taller man's eyes suddenly went towards the Third's… it was chilling… his eyes were white… paler than even the Hyuga's eyes. And yet, they radiated with so much power that the wind suddenly chilled, and blew. The Third backed a step.

The old man didn't want to make the Undertaker angry. He might be the Hokage… he might have been called the "Proffessor" but this Undertaker… this man was a whole different story. Hailing from The Order, this man called the Dead Man and the Phenom had been the most feared name in the ninja world. Corrupt lords, evil hearts, missing-nins that have devastated and harmed the whole world met their deaths with this man.

But that wasn't what made the Undertaker scary. What made him feared was the fact that he would take your soul once he finishes you. He has never been beaten once… no one sees how he kills, and he would appear and disappear that would make a jounin jealous.

"He… isn't… my… brother," the Undertaker growled softly, ever so coldly. "He disowned me… wanted to do nothing with me. You remember that time, old man. You were there. My brother thought so nobly of himself, he had forgotten where his blood lies. He abandoned the family. All for a woman from this village."

The Third went silent, contemplating what next to say. It was the perfect plan… supposedly. Naruto, trained and taken by Arashi's older brother… it would ensure his safety and well-being. Only… only if he'd accept. It's most unfortunate that the Undertaker and Arashi never left in friendlier terms.

"I know you blame this village for your loss of your brother…"

"Old man, you know damn well that I don't blame this pathetic village," the Undertaker said, looking back at the grave he just dug. He slowly dragged a handsome coffin made of wood inside it… lifted it… and placed it in so that it would look straight, and fixed. "I blame him. He decided to leave us. He decided to cut us."

"Yet you bury him in a nice coffin…"

"He was family… even if he didn't want anything to do with us," the Undertaker replied. "I am only giving him the last respect he deserves."

The Undertaker began to cover the ground with the dirt, and the two men stayed silent. Only the rustling sounds of the dirt being poured back to the grave was heard. After a few minutes, the Third gave a small prayer, and the Undertaker had bowed his head down respectively.

After a minute or so, he spoke. "Old man… you know if I take the child… he's going to be one of us. He'll be a soldier for the Order. He won't be your ninja. He won't be this village's soldier."

"Even if he stays here… I don't believe he'd grow up without people hating him," the Third replied.

"You're the Hokage… can't you do something about it?" the Undertaker asked, once again calm and unemotionally.

"I may be this village's kage… but the real power runs with the Council. I am just a figure-head," the Third replied sheepishly.

"Heh, figures," the Undertaker snorted softly. "Where's the kid?"

"In my home," the Hokage replied.

"Very well then, old man. I will take the kid. I will raise him with the Order," the Undertaker said with a sort of finality that the Third couldn't quite get with his own speech. "Lead the way. I'll grab him and leave this village."

"… thank you…" the Hokage bowed softly at the man. Both men walked under the pale moonlight, towards the village.

Life has continued in the Fire Country's Hidden Leaf Village. The story of Kyuubi and his death by the hands of their very own kage had been the bed-time story of every child before they'd sleep. Parents smile, telling the story in such fascination and awe that they hide the ugliness of death, loss and destruction.

Though its understandable, as parent's job is to raise the future generation, the future hope of the village. Heroic stories of their own heroes would be passed down to these hopes and dreams of what the parent's could not have done, and what the kid's can do.

Life goes on.

Thirteen years… thirteen years passed. In thirteen years, the stories have changed. From the death of Kyuubi, it suddenly became the survival of Uchiha Sasuke. Adults once again told the children stories of awe, marvel and once again, fascination. The kids soaked it up, and Sasuke, the loner, suddenly found himself surrounded by people who kept asking him questions, surrounded by girls who all love him… he suddenly began to despise them. They wouldn't leave him alone. Thus, the birth of Uchiha's personality came to full fruition.

But this is not his story. This is the story of the boy who was forgotten, the vessel of Kyuubi himself, the son of Arashi, and now, a soldier for the Order. This is Naruto's story.

The Third Hokage was signing a few papers when suddenly, his lamp went out. The cold night wind blew from his open window, and chilled the whole room. He shivered involuntarily. Poking his lamp with his pen, he wondered what was wrong with it. The lamp's light came back. And he suddenly felt a presence behind him.

"Good evening… old man."

The third suddenly jumped away, his mind all alert, and got into a fighting stance to try and kill the person who dared sneaked behind him… only to see a tall figure. The figure wore all black… fully buttoned shirt, tight pants, fingerless gloves, unbottuned trench coat, and a hat. He recognized the figure immediately.

"Oh… its you," the Third gave a silent breath of relief.

"Yes… you sent a letter to me," the Undertaker said, slowly moving more towards the light, that his face was seen. His long hair was neatly cropped behind his neck, and his beard was once again unkept. His pale face and striking brown eyes stared back at the old man. "You should have been expecting me."

"Yes…" the Third replied, swallowing. "Did you bring him…?"

"You know what makes me wonder?" the Undertaker asked.

"What…?"

"After our talk of him being a soldier to The Order, you agreed wholeheartedly… yet, you call him back," the Undertaker said coolly. "It's… almost confusing."

"I… just wanted to see him… know more of his progress," the Third replied carefully.

"Heh," the Undertaker snorted. "Don't try to fool me, old man. I shan't waste time to finish where you stand if you ever dare break our promise."

"I won't…" the Third replied softly. "It's been 13 years. I want to see how the boy has grown up. Yes… there are some other reasons… but I would only implicate those choices if you approve, and if he agrees."

The Undertaker went silent, looking at the old man. His eyes went deep in the Third's. He closes his eyes.

A knock was heard from the door, and the Third Hokage looked towards it. "Come in…"

The door opened, revealing a figure all in black. Standing 5'3", he wore a similar clothing like the Undertaker's… only his was a bit more… proper. He wore no hat, and his long hair was combed backwards, with a few spikes in its ends… like a hedgehog. He wore black pants, with black boots. He also wore a trench coat, buttoned from the neck up to the crotch level, hiding his upper torso.(1)

He looked like a priest… of some kind.

He walked slowly, letting his steps sound and echo through the chambers. The Third felt another chill rise in his spine. He almost dreaded for the figure to walk towards the light… and when he did… he gasped.

The figure was… handsome. His is blue eyes sparkled with… power. His blonde hair swayed behind him… yet he wore no facial expression. His face was also clear. He walked in, without a word, and went towards the Undertaker, his coat swaying with the wind. When his back was turned on the Third, the old man saw a sign… it was a sharp S, and at the bottom of the S, it was connected to with a slanting line, forming a small X(2).

He stood beside the Undertaker, and turned around. His face didn't change. Then, after a few seconds, he spoke, in an unemotional, steady tone. "Good evening, Hokage-san."

"Is this… Naruto?" the Third asked, very perplexed and impressed. The boy changed… well… he grew up.. but even his face changed. The six lines in his cheek even disappeared.

"No," the Undertaker replied evenly. The Third frowned, and before he could speak, the Phenom beat him to it. "He was the boy you gave me… but he no longer goes by the name of Naruto. His name, was given by the council of the Order after seeing his ability."

"What ability?" the Third asked.

"The Order had decided to extract the Kyuubi's soul inside Naruto… after all, it is our product," the Undertaker stated calmly. "But the seal used by my brother was very strong… stronger than expected… and so, an accident happened."

"What… accident? Did the Kyuubi… get free?" the Third asked… he was still confused about the 'Our Product' bit… but now, he was more worried about the fox's revenge to the village.

"Almost… and it was evil," the Undertaker stated. "I was almost ordered to finish it off… kill it. But I was afraid that if I have consumed Kyuubi's soul, I would take out Naruto's as well. The boy and Kyuubi's soul were much more stitched together than anticipated."

"And… what happened?" the Third asked, now fascinated… though a bit disturbed.

"The boy showed us his power. He talked to the fox… and ate Kyuubi's sins."

"… ate… Kyuubi's… sins?" the Third asked… disbelieved.

"Ate his sins…" the Undertaker replied. "All people Kyuubi killed… all the sins… he ate them. Thus, the spirit of the fox, which was mostly composed of sins… was no longer a fox anymore. All was left is the awesome power of the departed fox, and therefore, the council gave him a perfect name."

The Hokage's brain was spinning. What the hell was Undertaker talking about?

"You are confused… I see," the boy 'Naruto' spoke.

"Yes… forgive me… but I am not really much of a spiritualist," Hokage said sheepishly.

"Understandable. I'll explain. Every living being has a soul," the boy said in an even voice. "When a soul commits a sin, like steal, kill, or rape, he stains his soul black. The heavier the sin, the bigger the stain towards the soul. My job, is to judge a soul, and see to myself if I have to cleanse the soul. Cleansing it means I have to eat all the blacken spots of the soul."

"Ah…" the Hokage said. "So… the Kyuubi is still inside you then…?"

"No. His soul was black… filled with sin. When I ate them… he left no trace," the boy replied. "I am like my sensei… I eat souls… but I can only eat the darkened souls. Sinned and stained souls…"

"Which is why the council gave him the name… Sin Eater."

"Of course… you may call me Sin," the boy gave a small smirk.

The Third looked at Naru… no, The Sin Eater. He didn't notice his jaw was slacked in awe.

**Naruto as Sin**

**Sin Eater**

**---------------**

**(1) – for a more info, check out what Neo from the Matrix Revolutions was wearing in his final fight with Smith**

**(2) – You can find the sign in te link in my Profile Page. **

**This story will be updated side by side with Fairy Odd Adventure. Enjoy.   
**


	2. Sin and Team 7

"Sin…" Hokage silently called the boy… he was still trying to get used to the new name. For almost 13 years, he had been practicing how to greet Yondaime's son…

"_Naruto… welcome to our village… the village of your father…" _

But now, the boy's name isn't even Naruto anymore. He also wasn't what he expected. Cool, confident, coldly indifferent, yet not hostile… The Hokage didn't know where to even begin. There was a reason why he had called the boy here… but now that he was now face to face with him, he didn't know whether to ask, or to just leave him alone.

"Yes, Hokage?" Sin asked, looking at the old man with a curious gaze, yet didn't drop his cold indifferent face. "You were on the verge on telling something."

Nothing seemed to escape the boy, and the Hokage could only give another gaze at him. He looked back towards the Undertaker, and he saw the man smirk. The Hokage sighed. "Sin… welcome to our village. If you didn't know, this is the village where…"

"Where my father died, yes," Sin replied, looking at the Hokage neutrally. "He took the Hokage name and protected the village against the onslaught of the Kyubi."

"Ah… yes… guess you know that, eh, my boy?" Hokage laughed nervously.

"Yes, but that wasn't what you wanted to ask of me…"

"Oh?" the old man looked at Sin, the boy's face still neutral.

"Yes, there was a reason why you have called me back, is it not?" Sin asked without pause. "Please, feel free to say it."

The Third frowned. He took a look at the Undertaker, to see if he looked angry, but was surprised to see him give a small smile. The old man forced himself a small smile as well… "He's either reading my mind… or is unusually sharp…"

"Oh, it's not that," the Undertaker replied. "The Council of the Order has already suspected you making plans when you have requested his presence. We have both told that there is a high chance of you having an ulterior motive in calling Arashi's only son."

"Ah… so… I guess I needn't need to ask…" the Third muttered. "I'm sorry for calling you all the way here. I have hoped you both would have been agreeable…"

"Oh, but we are being agreeable," the Undertaker's smile went a bit wider. "The Order has dispatched us. We have been assigned to this village for a short while… and they have also agreed to give you any help we can give."

The Third's eye suddenly went wide, looking at the Undertaker. "My… well… that's…"

"Shocking? Surprising?" Sin suggested.

"Unexpected, actually…" the Third gave the boy a small smile. "Though… Am I correct in assuming you both having an ulterior motive in staying here?"

"We don't have any," the Undertaker said silently. "The Order has. We are just following their orders."

"And in our orders, we may partake requests you have any of us," Sin gave a small nod, and gave another rare small smile. "We are here to assist you after all. So, Hokage-san, ask. What's on your mind?"

The Hokage smiled. "Well… there's one ninja team that needs help…

**Sin Eater**

**Sin and Team 7**

The sun rose higher and higher, and in the training grounds of Team 7, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno were both waiting for their Jounin teacher t appear… though they didn't raise their hope that he would be there early. The silver haired, always late, and reading that perverted book nin had probably the worst sense of timing.

They should have been complaining, but they didn't. They were grateful. If it wasn't for Kakashi, there wouldn't have been a team. In their class, Iruka was able to team most of the class to balance… unfortunately, Sasuke, the number one rookie, and Sakura, the smartest girl on the class didn't fit anywhere. Kakashi, maybe out of pity (though its said he was just bored doing nothing) took Team 7 even with one member missing.

Though Sasuke and Sakura might have regretted it a bit, after seeing their teacher's habits, and given the way they spent countless hours doing almost nothing, they tend to see whether it was worth it not going back to the academy and wait for someone to graduate and fill their shoes.

"Um… Sasuke-kun…" Sakura began to nudge her fingers a bit, getting nervous. She has done this lots of times, yet always seemed to feel like this was the first time. "Want to go… out sometime?"

Sasuke gave her a neutral look that he gave her every time she asked. "No… I'm busy," he replied, the same thing, word per word. Sakura gave the same unhappy frown, and she began once again to look at her feet. Sasuke ignored her.

"When's he coming!" Sakura suddenly asked, a bit furious.

"I don't know…" Sasuke gave another neutral expression. "Sakura, you should get used to it already. Our Jounin sensei can't come early even if the Village is on fire."

Suddenly, a voice from above them declared, "Now, now, Sasuke, Sakura. Is that how you talk to your sensei?"

Sakura jumped, and Sasuke just looked up. "I knew you were there, that's why I said that," he said, neutrally again. "You're a bit early today, Kakashi-sensei."

"Ah, yes…" Kakashi began to scratch his head, looking rather comical. "I've been told that there's a special mission for us… The Hokage is waiting for us actually, as we speak."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Special Mission? Could it be that he's going to finally give us a C-Mission?"

Sasuke gave a frown. "We can't have C-Missions until we have a third member… that's the rule. Even the Hokage had said so."

Sakura's eyes widened a bit, and excitedly jumped… "What if the Hokage gave us our third member now for the special mission?"

Both Kakashi and Sasuke frowned at the statement. "Sakura, graduations won't happen until next month. I doubt that we'd have a third member now," Sasuke replied, putting his patented neutral Uchiha face.

"And I wouldn't try and add a team member now before sending us to a special mission. Would you see how it would affect teamwork if we're given a new member without prior warning?" Kakashi asked thoughtfully. "Its possible, but quite a… foolish action."

"Well… we really won't know what the Hokage wants if we're sitting here," Sasuke declared, looking towards the Hokage office. "Let's go."

The other two people behind him agreed, and the three began to walk towards the Hokage's office, not knowing what to expect.

* * *

At the Hokage's office, Sin was reading two files given to him by the Third, and the Undertaker, seemingly, found interest in the flowers in the vase at the desk. The Third just watched the boy raptly as he read at least 26 files, all reports on the two Gennins Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura. The two files he held were their academic records, and the other neatly stacked files were their mission details.

The mission details showed almost nothing because all it had were times and places of the mission, and most were usually pulling weeds, rescuing and finding missing pets. It's also hard to read from the chicken scratches the jounin made in the mission details, so Sin concentrated on studying the files given by the Academy's teacher.

"Haruno Sakura… from the Haruno family?" Sin asked to the Third, though his eyes didn't move away from the file he was reading.

"Yes… she seems to have inherited Haruno's cleverness and above average Chakra control," the Third replied.

"You sure it isn't because she doesn't have that much capacity of charka to have trouble in controlling?" Sin asked, looking at the third with a raised eyebrow.

"Well…" the Third replied sheepishly. "She does seem to be a bit… weak…"

"Girl's tend to have less charka then males," Sin said neutrally, going back to the files. "She seems to have a good head." He switched files, and took another look, and said, "Uchiha Sasuke, from the Uchiha Clan, am I correct?"

"Yes… number one rookie of his year."

Sin gave a look towards the Undertaker, and the man shared the look. "Uchiha Itachi's younger brother…" the Undertaker said to no one in particular, though both Sin and the Third gave a short nod.

"No manifestation of the Sharingan?" Sin asked.

"No… though we believe it will happen soon," the Third replied.

"And finally, who is their current jounin teacher?" Sin asked.

"Hatake Kakashi…"

"The White Fang's son? The Copy Ninja?" Sin asked his tone a bit stronger.

"Yes… you know a lot," the Third commented.

"We also know his habits. We also know that he is very reluctant to take students, and gives out hard tests which both challenge the new graduates physically and mentally as well," Sin replied. "He's style is almost similar to Morino Ibiki's, but not in an extreme way. And Ibiki is more disciplined."

"Ah… yes… quite. Seems nothing seems to escape the Order," the Third coughed a bit. "Kakashi accepted the remaining two graduates to train, and do missions… but unless they get a third team member, they can't do missions like C classes, and for them to enter the upcoming chuunin exam, they need to at least have one C-missions." The Third paused for a bit, then continued to say what was on his mind, "And… I think they deserve a C-mission. They have done countless menial D Missions that I think are affecting their own ninja skills."

"You want two members of the two prominent clans of the village to advance ranks," the Undertaker said simply. The Third seemed to be taken aback, and raised his two hands.

"Yes, but not because they are heirs of those clans… but because I feel they truly deserve it," the old man replied. "I was hoping that Naruto… Sin, sorry," he apologized after Sin's eyes shifted to him a bit, "I was hoping Sin would accompany the two ninja clans to their C-Mission which I think they deserve. It works… Sin, not having joined in the ninja ranks, nor taken exams, and can be called a genin who would accompany Team 7 on their first C-Mission."

"You don't need to hope," Sin gave a reply. "I have said already earlier. We are here to help. I believe you called the Team, and are about to arrive downstairs to get their first C-Mission?"

The Third gave a nod. "Yes… Sin… I want to thank you… This is something a vllage would never ask of the Order… but still… I thank you."

"Sarutobi-san," Sin called, "there is no need for thanks. It's my mission."

* * *

"Thank you for coming," the Third greeted Team 7. "I have seen the progress reports, and I'm frankly quite pleased with this team's progress of late. I am even considering in giving you your first C Mission so you may enter the upcoming chuunin exams."

Sakura was the first one to react in the group. Having this world missing Naruto in her team, she became a more… well, careful, and probably smarter replacement. But she and the canon Naruto had lots of similarities. "Eh? You're going to give us a C Mission, Hokage-sama!"

Sasuke's eyes went up, and his fist closed a bit tightly. Kakashi's eyes widened a bit, very thoroughly surprised. Was the Third going to give them an exception and send Team 7 to their first C Mission?

"You know the rules as well as I do, Sakura," the Third gave an almost apologetic look. Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi's backs formed humps, practically looking dejected. The Third would have laughed, but continued… "Which is why I have found you a third team member. Sin, please enter."

Sin's coat just waved through the air as he walked, still wearing the cool demeanor he usually wears. But what's new now is the pair of dark shades he hadn't worn earlier when he had arrived. His slow yet careful steps seemed to unnerved Kakashi, as his eyes, if possible, went wider. After a few moments, he stood motionless in front of the team, beside the Hokage.

"Good morning," Sin greeted. "I'm Sin. Pleasure to meet you."

Sasuke went silent, and so was Kakashi, both looking at Sin intently. Sakura took initiative, and replied back, "Uh… hi. Nice to meet you too Sin. My name is Haruno Sakura." She gave a small smile.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke introduced himself simply.

"I'm their jounin teacher… Hatake Kakashi," Kakashi gave a jovial wave.

"Sin here will be joining your team effective immediately," the Hokage said after all the introductions were done. "I called in a favor from a small village nearby who's training a few young boys with ninjitsu," the Third was lying smoothly. Sin gave him a side-way look, and gave a small, yet unnoticeable smile. "I think he'll be a valuable asset to you."

"Um… Hokage-sama," Kakashi began to talk. "If I may say so… wouldn't it be wise to see his abilities to see how well he'll work with us before sending us to our mission? I mean… the teamwork could be disastrous…"

"But you'll have no time, Hatake," the Third simply replied. "This particular mission will take you to Wave Country…"

"But…"

"Excuse me…" Sin suddenly spoke, making the two adults quiet down. "If I may say so, sir… you don't have to worry about me. Uchiha-san and Haruno-san can continue using the techniques, or any group formations you have taught them, and I will just do my own thing."

Sasuke snorted. "Your own thing? Wouldn't that make you a liability instead of an asset?"

Sin just looked at him neutrally. "No. If any of you are in trouble, I will help. You have my word on that. If I feel that the situation can be handled, I shan't interfere with you."

Kakashi looked at the Hokage… "Sir… is this…"

"Don't mind him," Hokage gave a smile. "He's… always like that. I suggest you don't doubt anything he says. Who knows, he might surprise you all."

Kakashi sighed, and bowed dejectedly. He raised his eye to look at Sin again, and back again to the Third, who was now going towards his table, and grabbed a scroll with a letter C on it. He slowly came back towards the group, and gave Kakashi the scroll.

"You're first C mission," the Hokage began, "is to escort a bridge builder to Wave Country." The door suddenly opened, and an old man with small glasses in his eyes came out, with a bottle of sake in his hand. He had apparently been drinking, and his cheeks were a bit pink. "Team 7, meet Tazuna. You will all escort and protect him from thieves, and gangs along the way."

"This it…?" Tazuna looked at the group. "Kinda young aren't they? Sure they're enough to protect me? The one wearing all black looks like some priest-goth weirdo."

Sasuke and Sakura automatically looked at Sin and see if he'd react. They saw him standing completely still, with only the flaps of his coat waving with the gentle wind. Kakashi gave a small scratch behind his neck, and said, "Well… I'm a jounin, so even if there is trouble more than they could handle, I'd count for something… right?"

"Yeah… whatever. So, we'll be leaving tomorrow?" Tazuna asked.

"Yes," the Third replied. "Tomorrow Team 7 will accompany you." Tazuna gave a small nod, and exited the place. He looked at Team 7, and gave them a small smile. "Now, this will be your first C Mission. I shall be looking forward to a very successful one. Mission details with the scroll, so ask Kakashi what time you'll have to meet tomorrow."

Kakashi gave a small nod, and knew that they were dismissed. Motioning for Team 7 to follow them, he made move towards when he stopped when he noticed that Sin was still standing where he was, unmoving. "Uh… Sin, are you coming?"

"No. I shall talk with my sensei for a while. I shall meet you tomorrow at the gate at 8 AM, exactly the start of the mission," Sin gave a small bow. "Been a pleasure to meet you."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, but didn't question it, and exited, with Sakura and Sasuke following. When the door closed, Sin gave a look at the place where the door was leaning when it was open, and the Undertaker was standing there, cross armed and leaning on the wall.

"Well, that went rather well," the Third gave a small smile. "Again, I thank you both."

Sin and the Undertaker both nodded, and began to walk towards the stairs leading upstairs. The Hokage followed.

* * *

"What a weird kid," Sakura declared, thoroughly confused by the boy in black. Sasuke was quiet, as always. Kakashi was looking very thoughtful though.

"The Hokage's been acting weird. He really seemed confident that the mission will go without a hitch and I have a feeling it's this Sin character which is why the Hokage seems to be really confident," Kakashi said. "And this Sin… he's really... something else…"

"He probably just a boy with some skills and thinks he's the strongest," Sakura shrugged. "No one is stronger than Sasuke-kun." And she gave wink to the raven haired boy, who just ignored her as always.

Kakashi didn't say anything, though he did gave the door which made way to the Hokage's office a bit more glances than what one would consider normal. Well, whatever they would want to know from Sin, he'd see it coming with the mission.

* * *

The sun rose with no complications. The moon faded with no trace. It was once again another normal day for the village. Little children came out to play… Academy students started school, wives cooking, father's drinking coffee and reading newspapers, and genins doing missions all around the Hidden Village. In the front gate though, at 7:56 AM, Sakura, Sasuke, and surprisingly, Kakashi were there on time.

Tazuna came up at 7:58 AM, and Team 7 was looking around for a sign of Naruto. When one minute passed, Sakura began to mutter to herself. "Where is he?"

"He's probably just taking his time… or lost…" Kakashi scratched behind his neck.

"Or he ran…"

"Or fixing that hedgehog spike hair style of his…"

"Or is right here, wondering why you are all commenting about me…" Sin's voice suddenly came from Team 7's right, and 4 heads turned to him. He gave them a wave. "Yappo."

Kakashi's eyes was wide again, and Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Tazuna's went wide and back to normal again. Sakura seems to be the only one reacting well to him… by jumping high, and being very pale.

"When did you get here!" Sakura demanded, her heart beating quite fast. No one was able to sneak up on her that close! Sure, people easily sneak up on her, but he was just a few inches away from her, and wearing all black again. Who wears black in the morning and not be seen?

"When you asked where I was, Haruno-san," Sin replied, and gave a nod to Team 7. "Sin here, reporting to duty. Shall we start the mission?" He gave a look to Tazuna who was intently staring at him. "Sir, shall we begin escorting you to Wave Country?"

"Yeah, whatever…" Tazuna began to walk towards the front, and Team 7 with Sin followed through. After a few minutes of walking, he looked back at Team 7 and Sin, then was about to speak when he just closed his mouth and continued walking.

Silence reigned for the first few minutes. Sasuke and Sin walked in steady steps following Tazuna, while Sakura slowed her pace to reach Kakashi who was behind them. "Kakashi-sensei…"

"Yes Sakura-san?" Kakashi asked.

"Are there shinobi's in Wave Country?"

"No, not really," Kakashi replied easily. "Wave Country is quite a small and poor country to afford shinobis."

"So… we won't be meeting any Shinobis along the way, right?" Sakura smiled with the idea. She didn't want her first important C Mission with Sasuke-kun to fail… oh what would he think of her? Would he hate her?

"I don't think so," Kakashi gave a nod to Sakura, who was smiling. "In C Missions, we'll be facing only robbers, and small time gang members. Your levels, most likely."

"But…" a voice said beside them, making both Kakashi and Sakura jump. Sin was beside them, walking the same pace they were. "Just because its said to be a C Mission, doesn't mean there won't be any shinobi. Life is unpredictable, ever changing… so expect the unexpected."

Sakura's temper flared up. This was the second time the boy had sneaked up on her. "Well, the Hokage wouldn't give us the Mission if it was too advanced for us!"

"Ah, yes," Sin gave a small smile, his eyes closed, giving an expression that he was enjoying the conversation. "But take note of this: Tazuna comes from a poor country. He, himself hired us. There is a chance, no matter how small, that he might have been lying."

"And why would he lie?" Sakura demanded. Sin was about to reply when Kakashi suddenly spoke.

"Because the higher the rank the mission is, the higher the fee will be paid…" Kakashi's hand stroked his chin. "Sin does raise a good point… though I'll ask… What makes you think shinobis will be interested in a bridge builder?"

Sin shrugged. "Who knows? Like I have said, life is unpredictable. We might be surprised what we can find out as the mission goes." And he began to walk in a faster pace, leaving Sakura and Kakashi on their thoughts.

_What a weirdo… _Sakura thought.

_That's the second time he sneaked up on me… _Kakashi thought with a frown. _He hides his presence so easily… I wonder what else he hides under his sleeves… _

Kakashi's eye suddenly went down towards the puddle of water, and then continued walking.

As Team 7 passed by, the puddle of water slowly began to vanish as two shadows began to emerge from it. The two shadows had two metallic claws in their hands, and suddenly rushed towards Kakashi. Before the silver haired teacher could react, he found himself wrapped around a very sharp barbed chain.

"One down…" the shadows both said in complete sync, and yanked the chain hard, ripping Kakashi to shreds.

Sakura screamed. Tazuna's face paled. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Sin's face stayed neutral. And it stayed neutral when he saw the two shadows in front of him.

"Two down…"

Sasuke jumped in, and threw a throwing star and a kunai towards the flying chain before it had the chance to wrap itself against Sin. The star pinned the chain near the tree, and the kinai secured the star in the tree.

The two shadows noticed that they couldn't move their arms because their chain which was connected to they metal parts of their arms were stuck, and before they could react, Sasuke landed on their extended arms, and gave a double kick, each feet in both their faces, making them stagger back, and letting go of the chain.

The shadows began to separate now, one going for Tazuna, who was now frozen in fear, and the other going for Sin. Sakura saw where the shadow was going, and rushed in front of Tazuna to defend him, and Sasuke came in front of Sakura to defend her. Sin just looked at the one going towards him, unmoving, and at the last second, both shadows were grabbed in their necks by Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura's eyes went almost in tears.

"… show off…" Sasuke whispered his eyes showing annoyance and irritation.

"Saved…" Tazuna gave a soft whisper his eyes showing relief.

"Ah, sorry guys, I was late… but good job, Sakura, Sasuke…" Kakashi gave them a smile. He turned to Sin, who was now looking at him neutrally. "I'm sorry I couldn't arrive sooner, Sin… but I didn't think you'd freeze up like that… I got you wounded." And he pointed at Sin's hand.

Sasuke smirked. "What's wrong, scaredy cat?"

Sin just snorted. "Heh…" and began to continue walking.

"Oi, wait Sin!" Kakashi called. "Their weapons were laced with poison… if you don't take out…"

"I'm unaffected by poison, Kakashi-san. I suggest you finish those two off, and let's be on our way," Sin said neutrally.

"Wait, Sin, there are things we need to know about…" Kakashi began.

"Things like…?" Sin asked.

"Things like who's the target is…" Kakashi looked at Tazuna who stepped back.

Tazuna was about to speak when Sin beat him too it. "Its obvious, isn't it…? They were after Tazuna-san."

The old man froze, as Team 7 eyes went to him. "Bu… but… why would ninjas be interested in me?"

"His bridge is a threat to a powerful business man, who in his disposal has Mist missing nins…" Sin stated. "A man named Gatou."

Tazuna's face was now pure white.

"Gatou?" Sakura asked. "Who's that?"

"A powerful business man," Sin replied. "He conquered Wave Country with his money, and began to rule over it with an iron fist. He controls most of the shipments coming through the sea, and if I am not mistaken, Tazuna is building a bridge which will break the monopoly of the shipments held by Gatou… and I don't think he likes that."

Kakashi's eye widened, and looked at Tazuna who looks very frightened. "So… you lied to us about what's after you… if there were shinobis involved, the rank of the mission would have been a B…"

"So… we aren't ready for this at all!" Sakura declared, smiling nervously. "I mean… we're only genins… we can't face other ninjas yet!"

Kakashi looked at Sin who was looking back at them, apparently waiting. "Well… we can always go back to the village now… and probably treat Sin there."

Sin gave another snort. "Heh. Either way, I don't really care."

Tazuna's heart leapt… and before anyone could move, he suddenly bowed. "Please… don't quit the mission…"

Kakashi looked at the bridge builder. "We have to… missions like these aren't taken by genins, especially at their levels. We got lucky this time… but who knows who else is out there trying to get us?"

Tazuna was still on his knees… "I know… but please… I know your laws… endangering ninjas because of false details… but I can't be taken in for time… the bridge is in near completion… Wave Country needs it…"

Kakashi looked at Sakura and Sasuke… Sin looked at them.

"I will pay you the mission… whether it will be B or A, or even S… this is how much Wave Country needs its bridge…" Tazuna whispered.

Sasuke gave a nod, and Kakashi sighed. "Alright… Team 7 will continue the mission."

Sin gave a silent nod, and waited for the 4 people to catch up with him before he began to walk again…

To Be Continued…

NEXT: Zabusa, Training, and Haku!


	3. Sin vs the Devil of the Mist

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Kakashi shouted. "You've got no chance against this guy! Run away as far as possible! Our mission is to safeguard Tazuna-san!"

**Demon Eyes Laharl Presents:**

Sasuke could only growl. "Our chances of escaping lowered once you got caught, Kakashi-sensei…" he closed his eyes. "To succeed this mission, we have to free you first!"

**Team 7 and Tazuna**

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Kakashi shouted again. He was stupid… he was careless. And he underestimated his opponent. But even in his water encased cage, he still thought of the mission, and his genin students.

**Naruto as the Sin Eater in:**

**Sin Eater: Sin versus the Devil of the Mist**

Team 7 and Tazuna had successfully infiltrated Water Country, and was about to walk towards the town when Sin just suddenly moved towards the bushes, and before anyone could say anything to him, he came back out with a snow white rabbit.

Sakura wasn't impressed. She talked about how much noise he made when he went towards the bushes, and all for an unimportant animal. Sasuke stayed silent as usual, but Kakashi noted on the white rabbit, and knew someone was around… a ninja… for a snow white rabbit that wasn't near on his habitat would have made the animal would have been a tool in using a replacement jutsu.

And before they knew it, a sword flew overhead. Team 7, Kakashi, and Tazuna ducked as the sword embedded itself on the tree, and out came the Devil of the Mist himself… Zabusa. Kakashi took a moment, and removed the head protector from his eye, revealing a Sharingan underneath… surprising both Sasuke and Sakura, both on different accounts. Sakura was disbelieved that their jounin was actually a legendary ninja. Sasuke didn't believe that Kakashi had the Sharingan, as the Sharingan is a bloodline of only the Uchiha Clan… his clan.

There was a momentary scuffle, but in the end, after Kakashi had cornered to what he believed was Zabusa, which in fact was a water clone, and the Devil of the Mist was able to corner him towards the water, and entrap him an a sphere of liquid. And he also called out a Water clone which will finish the job for him, because Zabusa can't move with to maintain the water sphere entrapping Kakashi.

Two genins, their care, and Sin against a water clone… and not just any water clone… the water clone of the missing-nin Zabusa, who people lovingly call "The Devil". Chances were, as Zabusa thought, good. Fire Country ninjas have the reputation of being of being soft treated… It didn't mean they had weak ninjas, but the way they are brought up was nothing compared the way Zabusa was brought up. The man had killed just to graduate to genin. What did these kids do? They are probably unblooded… weaklings. Insults as ninjas.

"You are better off running," he said in a slow yet steady voice. "You all are no match for me…"

Sasuke gritted. His blood boiled. The Uchiha Clan were clans of hard headed people… too arrogant because of their bloodline ability of the Sharingan. It was no surprise that his anger rose, even if he knew that Zabusa was doing nothing but telling them the truth. Sasuke Uchiha, a prodigy he might be, but at his level against a Jounin-level "Devil" he'd be fighting almost impossible odds.

But he didn't care. He charged towards the water clone… he knows, from his days at the academy, that clones generally have only 10 strength of the caster, which meant, as long as he could get one direct hit, the clone would disappear. He took out his kunai, and ran as fast as he could and took a stab at the clone's abdomen. But before he could reach and kill it, the clone grabbed his head, and just practically threw him back towards Sakura. He landed with a roll, making a safe fall… and realized that his forehead protector was gone.

The clone was holding it… dropped it in the ground, and stomped on it hard. "You don't deserve to wear such… bold signs of you being a ninja. None of you deserve the prestige nor the right to call yourselves ninjas. You are nothing but kids… playing ninjas."

"Shut up," Sasuke whispered through gritted teeth. He was beginning to save his strength for another assault. He stood up, and got his kunai ready.

"Oh, still willing to try?" Zabusa laughed. "You have tenacity… but you are no where near my level… and you never will be. Do you think you can jut be ninjas without knowing the true meaning of being ninjas?"

"T-true meaning?" Sakura stammered. She was scared to the bone… no one, not even her mother could have scared here this way… and her mother was probably the scariest person she knew.

"Ninjas are tools… of death," Zabusa replied. Sakura's eyes widened. "Yes… we ultimately kill people. Ninjas main objective is to kill. Not to go and serve poor people… gardening, or finding lost pets, whatever I hear your village does… I can sense that you have not even had killed." He gave a very derisive laugh. "And you want to go against me… I'll have you know… I had to kill my friends… just to graduate to genin."

Kakashi looked at Zabusa… "The banned Hidden Village of the Mist graduation test…"

Zabusa looked at him… "Oh, you've heard of it?"

"Yes… the old graduation test of the Mist Village… a deathmatch. The survivors graduate… those that die… die…" Kakashi put his head down. Sakura gave another audible gasp. "But that test was banned… after a kid just brutally murdered every kid he was taking the test with… even those he wasn't fighting against…"

Zabusa's eyes closed. "Heh… the first time I ever killed someone… it was addicting."

Sasuke began to back away. His rational thoughts were coming back. Maybe… maybe he really can't do anything. He knows a lot of Jutsu… mostly fire… but the thing with fire is that it's slow… and he knew the clone wouldn't just be standing there to take it. And he didn't want to get close anymore… he was lucky the clone didn't use his sword to slice him.

Sakura backed away as well. No way was a bookworm like her going to make this out alive by charging along. She can't fight… she gave herself no illusions she could. She knew basic jutsus by heart… but she was facing a missing nin strong enough to capture her teacher, who she just learned, was a very known and strong nin.

Tazuna backed away as well. He'd run, if it wasn't for his feeling of guilt in placing three kids in this situation… maybe… maybe he was better off being arrested for giving false information. It would have been better than sending these kids to their doom.

Sin… took a step forward. And then another… and then another… and another… until he came in a few short distance between himself and the clone. Sasuke, Tazuna, Sakura, Kakashi and even Zabusa were surprised.

"Sin!" Sakura called. "What are you doing! Get away! There is no way you can beat that clone!"

"Yeah," Sasuke put his two cents in. "You couldn't do anything when those two brother ninjas were attacking us!"

Sin didn't turn to them, nor did he even inclined his head to confirm that he heard them. Kakashi shouted… "SIN! RUN!"

The clone moved first, running and slashed towards the boy in black… only to have hit nothing but air. And in a fraction of a second, he saw the boy's knee going straight towards his head… and there was a loud crack that filled the air… and the clone fell on its back… turning to water before it hit the ground.

Sin landed on the ground after his rising knee attack without disturbing the dust on the ground. Everyone's faces suddenly showed the utmost shock. "What… the hell?" Kakashi whispered.

"So what if you killed when you were young?" Sin spoke, looking towards Zabusa, and began to walk towards him. "Killing is nothing but ending a human life to you… isn't that right?" He took a step. "Killing is nothing but a step to be a ninja, isn't that right?" He took another step. "Well… let me re-educate you, Zabusa-san. Killing is a sin."

Sakura and Sasuke couldn't talk… too shocked to know what the hell is going on.

Sin paused at his fifth step. "Actually… let me re-phrase that. Killing for the wrong reason… is a sin. I really can't tell you about right or wrongs… because frankly… I don't know." He continued walking.

"What are you talking about?" Zabusa backed a step. Just one step… but Kakashi saw the significance… an A-Level Missing nin was backing away from a kid. A kid, who destroyed a clone and not even Kakashi saw the move, even with his Sharingan on.

"Sin… is a self mutilation done by a soul. As I have gone around in my studies… I have concluded that the Universe has one Universal Truth," Sin removed his shades, revealing those cold blue eyes staring straight at Zabusa. "And that Truth, my friend, has sub-truths in which all souls ultimately follow. One of those sub-truths is the truth of sin… A soul, abiding by the law, will mutilate itself in case it commits a sin." He was getting quite close to Zabusa and Kakashi when he stopped. "And I peer down your soul… and see nothing but blackness. Your soul has been mutilating itself far too long."

Sin vanished, and suddenly appeared in the air in front of Zabusa, extending his leg to kick the Devil on his face. The man moved at once, letting go of the sphere he was holding, and backed away towards the waters. Kakashi was released, hitting the water, and submerging, and Sin just stood there, at the top of the water like Zabusa, staring at him.

"Your soul tells me one thing…" Sin continued talking towards Zabusa. "Your life is a wasted life. So I shall hand down a judgment. You will die… by my hands."

"Sin… wait," Kakashi grabbed the boy's ankle. "Let me take care of him…"

"No, Kakashi-san… your eye is draining you. And besides… this is my job," Sin continued to move, walking towards Zabusa, who had his sword out and ready.

"You're quite powerful for a boy at your age…" Zabusa admitted.

"If you can strike me down… I'll show you how powerful I really can be," Sin dashed towards Zabusa, his fist ready, and the man jumped towards the left, and threw his sword towards the charging boy. Sin, to the disbelieved eyes of Team 7, Tazuna and Kakashi, rolled in the air, caught the sword on its handle, and threw it hard towards where Zabusa was going to land. The man had planned to create seals and unleash a jutsu when he saw the sword he threw coming back at him with wicked speed.

Zabusa cursed silently, and jumped towards the left, where suddenly, he saw a blur, and before he could do anything, he felt something hard hit him behind the head… Sin was there, his knee high up again, but this time, his other foot didn't leave the water as he gave a modified roundhouse right behind the head of Zabusa. The man fell down hard, lost balance, and fell into the waters. Sin moved a few steps back, looking at where Zabusa had fell, and a few moments later, the man came up.

His eyes were steely… His hands grabbed the surface of the water like it was solid, pulled himself up, and stood at the water surfaces. Sin gave a short nod. Seems like the Devil of the Mist is about to get serious. And without warning, Zabusa suddenly dashed with very fast and almost unseen speed, and hit Sin hard with a kick on his chest, followed by an uppercut, and then ended with a jumping half circle kicking Sin right in the face.

Sakura's eyes bulged. "SIN!" she shouted.

The boy didn't seem to react to her shout, as he calmly just rolled in the air, and landed neatly at the water, only to see Zabusa had started and finished doing a series of seals, and unleashed a very strong water dragon attack towards the boy… and Zabusa smiled a bit when he heard the dragon hit its target with a loud splash.

Kakashi's eyes widened, and so did Sasuke's. Sakura was about to shout again, when Sin was just there… standing after the Dragon Water Blast technique. Zabusa's eyes widened with shock. "What are you!" he demanded.

"You're Grim Reaper…" Sin replied. "This may not be as good as yours… but then, the effects are the same…" And he suddenly raised his foot high in the air, his leg unbending, and when it reached its highest peak, he shoves it down hard with a speed that was indescribable. The only thing which seemed to indicate how fast his downward axe kick was the water suddenly splitting to and forming a funnel which just drove itself to Zabusa who, when hit hard, flew and was thrown towards the tree, pinning him there, slumped, and apparently defeated.

Sin was about to charge in when needles suddenly flew and attached itself in Zabusa's neck. His eyes widened… and stopped moving. His head slumped down. Sakura gasped. Tazuna's mouth went open. Sasuke went to a ready position. What now?

A masked boy bearing a sign of being a part of the Hidden Village of the mist came to view, standing in a branch of a tree towards the left where Zabusa had lain. The figure came down and went appeared beside Zabusa. After looking at the man, and put two fingers at his neck, the masked boy looked at Sin and Team 7, and gave a short bow. "Thank you for your assistance… I have been hunting him for the past few weeks. Thanks to you I was able to find an opening and finish him with no trouble."

Sakura and Sasuke stared hard at the boy for a few minutes, partly suspicious and partly shocked. The masked boy is almost at their age… and he seemed so… nonchalant about killing! It wasn't until Kakashi tapped both on their shoulders that they settled their gaze. "It's alright… We are glad we helped a bit."

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked her teacher.

"It's okay Sakura," Kakashi replied, giving a small smile. "I recognize his uniform and mask. He is one of the Mist Missing Nin Hunters."

"Oh? You recognize it?" the masked boy asked.

"Yes, I've visited the Hidden Village of the Mist a few times in my life," Kakashi gave a reply.

"In that case, I shall leave you all," the masked boy declared, taking Zabusa's body and carrying on his back. He made a seal, and slowly disappeared as the mist surrounded him. Sin looked at where the boy disappeared, and then whipped his glasses back on. He gave a look at Kakashi.

"I told you to stop using that eye," Sin stated. "You do know the Sharingan will drain you more in rest than in battle?"

"Yes, I know," Kakashi covered his eye with his forehead protector. "I was… just looking out for you."

"Liar," Sin replied easily. "I suppose my little… show caught your attention."

Kakashi scratched his head… "Yeah… kinda…" Sasuke's eyes went to Sin, and narrowed at once. Kakashi recognized that facial expression, so he opted to get things moving before something else happens. "Um… Sin, either its me, or are you not what you seem…"

"What do you perceive of me being what I seem?" Sin asked.

"… that didn't make sense…" Sakura whispered.

"I know for one that villages do teach ninjitsu with a few chosen kids… but you…" Kakashi looked at Sin. "You are different. You move like no ordinary ninja would. You don't use ninja tools, nor do you seem to use the normal taijitsu, and I didn't even see you do any ninjitsu. Now, either I'm way behind at times, or you really aren't what you seem to be… a ninja trained from the city."

Sin gave a small smile, which Sakura and Sasuke correctly translated as a smile of amusement rather than annoyance. "You're quite correct, Kakashi-san… but now, lets move. We shouldn't talk in the open… When we get to Tazuna's house, I'll explain more."

Team 7, Tazuna and Sin then continued on its journey. After a while, the fog began to dissipate, and everyone could see more clearly as the sun shone down on them. For their whole silent trip, Tazuna spoke first. "I'm glad one of our problems are gone…"

"Don't be too sure, Tazuna-san," Sin replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked.

Sin looked at him. "Life… is so everchanging… and so unpredictable."

"… he doesn't make sense…" Sakura gave a short whisper.

"… either that or we are just stupid to know…" Kakashi scratched his head.

* * *

The masked boy laid Zabusa in a bed, and slowly removed the needles. He grabbed a moist towel, and wiped the dirt of the man's face, and then, after removing the needles, he he slowly began to clean the wound.

After a few minutes, Zabusa's hand suddenly grabbed the masked boy's hand. The latter in a firm yet gentle manner, put the hand on Zabusa's side. "Don't move, Zabusa-sama…"

"Haku… did you really have to use the needles there?" Zabusa asked, emotionless.

"It's the only place where I can get the effect without damaging your face…" Haku, the boy, replied.

"Hmph… because of this I'll be set back for a few days… and add more for my wounds… that boy…" Zabusa stiffened a bit. "He took everything I gave him, and he wasn't even breathing hard."

"I… watched the whole thing, Zabusa-sama…" Haku replied. "The boy seemed almost impervious to all your attacks… and he seemed to not be using his whole strength at all…"

"And you're comments then, Haku? How do we deal with the boy?" Zabusa asked.

"Take him by surprise… slash him in half… or use the needles to puncture lethal points in his body," Haku replied easily. "It will be hard, but not impossible."

"Heh… and how is your assessment of the Sharingan?" Zabusa asked.

"… I believe its nothing but a trick. Since the boy interfered, I might not asses it fully, but considering what I saw… the Sharingan is still an eye… it needs to see or else it would be useless… and it seems, from what I heard from the boy, the eye drains Kakashi quite fast."

"Heh… good. We have ample time to prepare our counter attack."

* * *

"I'm home!" Tazuna called as he entered the house. He was immediately greeted back by a woman younger than him, and a few seconds later, a young boy, younger than Sin, Sakura and Sasuke came to view, but stopped on his tracks when he saw Team 7 and Sin. "Who are they?" he asked, rather rudely actually.

"These people are protecting me as I complete the bridge," Tazuna smiled, a bit proud at Team 7. His whole attitude of the Team changed quite dramatically after having survived two ninja assaults. If the team was only of genin… just wonder how chunnin teams would be. "Ninjas I hired from the Hidden Village of the Leaf in Fire Country."

The boy took a long look at them, and huffed. "They won't live… They'll die for going against Gatou…" and he turned and ran upstairs again.

Sasuke and Sakura had wondered about that, although the former hasn't shown his concern like Sakura, who was now open mouthed and looking at where the boy had gone. Tazuna bowed a bit, ashamed. "Uh… sorry about Inari… he tends to do that…"

"Please, you are just in time for dinner," the woman said. "I'll make some extra batches of soup, and grab some more bread…"

Sin raised his hand… "Please… you don't need to trouble yourself for me. I can go on without food for a while…"

"But that won't do… please… it will be no trouble at all," the woman smiled.

"Then, I shall accept your generous offer…" Sin gave a short bow.

"Please, sit down while I go and prepare more food…"

Team 7 and Sin both sat down at the chairs situated near the dining table. Tazuna himself sat down as well, after having some private word with the woman at who had now gone to the kitchen, and the atmosphere began to tense. Kakashi was now looking at Sin intently while Sakura intently watched Sasuke, who in turn tried not to look at Sin.

The boy in black spoke. "I guess you want me to explain myself?"

"Quite much, yes," Kakashi replied.

"Well, as you have guessed by yourself, I am not a normal ninja… truth is… I'm not really a ninja," Sin stated, earning some stares from Team 7 and Tazuna. "I was called in by the favor of Sarutobi-san, and under the orders of my… masters, if you want to call them that."

"So… Hokage-sama asked you for a favor… that means your masters must be in friendly terms with the Hidden Village of the Leaf…" Kakashi theorized. If such a group was affiliated by the Leaf, then they might have had stronger allies than Kakashi actually knew. After all… a group with young men like these is bound to be quite… powerful.

"In truth, The Order, the name of my group, is actually quite… angry at the Leaf," Sin smirked. "But they are in quite friendly terms with Sarotubi-san."

Kakashi's mouth seemed to be open. "The… Order…?"

"Heard of them, I guess," Sin shrugged.

"What's the Order?" Sakura asked. "Sounds like a bunch of weird men dressed in black… like some neo goth group. I mean… look at Sin's dress style…"

Kakashi's eyes widened, and slammed his hand quite angrily at the table, causing Sakura, Tazuna and Sasuke to look at him with awe. "Don't! Haruno Sakura… don't speak of the Order like that!" He suddenly turned to Sin… and gave a very deep apologetic bow. "I'm sorry. She… is ignorant. She doesn't know much about the great Order…"

Sin waved his hand. "Doesn't matter. Her ignorance does not fault her for giving a few harmless insults about the Order. But… it would be wise to educate your students of it."

Kakashi closed his visible eye. "You're quite right, Sin-san…" he turned and faced his students. "As you both are well aware, leaders of a hidden village has the title of a 'Kage' and each of them have a particular influence on the shinobi world… Our Hokage is part of that group. Now, for each Kage to successfully run their village, a balance of power should be maintained. There are many ways a Kage can give steady peace… one is taking missions from important clients, and have their fame spread around… or hold special meetings where each village can show what they got to offer…"

"Like the Chunnin exams, if I'm not mistaken," Sin added.

"Yes… that too. Though there will be times when a village will suddenly upset the balance. Once that happens, two things will happen… War… or buying out weaker villages." Kakashi gave Sin one last look, almost waiting for his input, but the boy just let him continue. "War is something which will happen between villages. It is sometimes settled after years, or none at all. Buying other villages out will cause an extreme and very upsetting balance. Imagine… one hidden village who had bought out 3 or 4 other villages, and waging war on the other villages… it has happened a lot of times."

"It's happening everyday," Sin corrected. "Hidden Villages, especially the stronger and richer ones are always out to recruit small or even very big villages… and sometimes for fun, these villages would form their own name and their own brand of shinobis. Take Grass Village for instance… they were an extended village of the Stone when Grass thought they should not be part of any affiliation and wanted to be an independent village. They asked Konoha for help."

"And thus the war between Konoha and the Hidden village of the Stone started," Kakashi nodded. "Ninja villages are quite complicated issues. And those issues have to be decided by one man, who'd represent a whole village… the Kage."

Sakura frowned. She was expecting a cool story, not a history lesson. "We know this, Kakashi-sensei… what about that… Order? Is that another village or something?"

"The Order is a special… group. Dedicating themselves for balance, they have decided many wars, and upturned many decisions," Kakashi looked at Sin again. He was silent. Kakashi continued. "They are somehow a power in which, if a village has its support, no matter how poor or small the village is asking for help… or how large and powerful they will be facing against, they would restore balance. During the war, the Order had been quite supportive of the Grass… and suggested that the Leaf help them. They are also the ones that have destroyed the tyrannical Hidden Village of Moon who had bought almost all his surrounding villages and declared war in every other village."

"In short… they interfere with ninja villages," Sasuke gave a small glare at Sin.

"Yes, quite," Sin replied calmly, looking at Sasuke. "You don't expect to believe that all ninja villages are at peace for showing off their power, don't you? Humans are chaotic tendencies… one day, maybe in the near future, or centuries later… or even tomorrow, a village will do something foolish to upset the delicate balance of peace between each village. And when it gets too much, the Order gets involved."

"Is there anything you do other than interefere with villages?" Sasuke taunted.

"Quite… we hunt down very powerful Q-Class nins," Sin replied nonchalantly.

"… Q-Class?" Sakura asked.

"Q-Class is a class going beyond S… criminals who have grown too powerful for their own good, and are committing acts of atrocity. Most Q-Class criminals would be possessed humans, mad humans… or even greater demons," Sin explained. He gave a look at Sasuke. "Uchiha Sasuke is bordering the Q Class… and once he crosses over… the Order will issue a hunt."

"Hmph," Sasuke snorted. "No one but me can kill him."

"I beg to differ, Uchiha-san… the Order have other members beyond my power. If you consider the highest to be 10… then my level is only a six," Sin smiled. "And a six, my friend… is quite enough to kill your brother."

Sasuke glared at Sin. The boy in black was challenging him.

"That's enough…" Kakashi said. "So… what is your mission?"

"To help Team 7 get a C Mission to go to the chunnin exams. And probably take the exams with you," Sin gave a small smile. "Normally, doing so would let you all pass by tomorrow… and be chunnin faster than you can blink, but… I have said this once. I will help, only if you need help. That's the reason why I… what's that term again… froze? Yes… Froze when those two ninja brothers were attacking."

He stood up. "And believe me… when you need help… I really mean you'll need help." And with that, he walked away.

Sakura looked at the boy leave, and gave Kakashi a short stare. "What did he mean by that?"

"… he meant… if you were dieing… that's the only time he'll really step in." Kakashi shivered. "And from what I just saw earlier… he wasn't kidding."

* * *

The day after they arrived at Tazuna's house, Kakashi called his team and Sin towards the woods nearby. Once they arrived, Kakashi showed them the tree walking exercise, and told them to follow. Sasuke did six steps before he lost traction, and immediately recognized his mistakes. He was a genius after all. Sakura had a much easier time, as she was able to climb quite high, before she felt tired. Sin… he just watched with some fascination.

"Sin… aren't you going to climb with us?" Sakura asked him.

The boy looked at her quizzically and gave a short nod. And soon, he climbed all the way to the top, and then climbed all the way down, impressing both Kakashi and Sakura (though only somewhat. She still firmly believes that Sasuke-kun could beat Sin). Sasuke just made an annoying noise, and continued the exercise with more vigor.

"Well… it's no surprise Sin being able to do that…" Kakashi scratched his head. "I guess you are already doing the water walk?"

"No… I passed that. I'm on air walking now," Sin replied with a shrug.

"… you're joking, right?" Kakashi asked, quite shocked, and quite expecting a 'yes'.

"No, Kakashi-san… I'm not choking. I'm perfectly fine," Sin gave a medium sized smile, and Sakura laughed appreciatively at the joke. Sasuke gave a small smirk. The two genins, as much as they don't trust Sin, appreciated when he put their teacher in place.

"But… but air walk is…" Kakashi stammered.

"Almost impossible, yes, but not entirely improbable," Sin replied.

"Well… if that's the case… I guess… Sasuke and Sakura, keep doing your exercises, Sin, come with me," and Kakashi turned and left, Sin following him.

Sasuke and Sakura watched Sin and their teacher leave. Sasuke turned back to his tree first, and continued his exercise. Sakura looked curious though. "Ne… Sasuke-kun… why do you think Kakashi is training us? I mean… wasn't Zabusa our biggest threat?"

"Even so… from the sound of it, Gatou seems to be quite powerful. Who knows who else he had hired to kill Tazuna-san," Sasuke replied. "And besides… this is good training. We should keep training whenever we can."

Sakura sighed. Here she was, alone with Sasuke, in relatively empty woods… and he was too busy on training. "Yeah… you're right…"

* * *

Kakashi and Sin stayed side by side, walking towards Tazuna's house. Before they arrived though, Kakashi spoke to him. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

Sin gave him a glance. "If you are thinking of the possibility of Zabusa-san being alive and we have been duped, then yes."

"After the battle, I slowly realized how wrong the hunter-nin was acting," Kakashi put his hand on his chin. "Normally I am not that slow… but your actions at that time… made me distracted."

"I understand. If you are asking my opinion, Kakashi-san, then yes, I do believe it's quite possible that Zabusa is alive and slowly recovering. I understand that's why you have started training Haruno-san and Uchiha-san," Sin stated. He gave Kakashi a look. "You suspected that he was alive."

"It's quite… probable," Kakashi gave Sin a look, and also a small smile hidden behind his mask.

"Kakashi-san, one of these days, you will have to remove that mask," Sin gave a small yet dark grin. "Unless of course, you want your student, Haruno-san to remove it for you… or maybe waiting for one of those jounin or chuunin female ninjas to do it for you. I can always feed the curiosity in them."

"Hey, now, that's low," Kakashi looked straight ahead, avoiding Sin's eyes.

"Oh? I didn't make your clan laws, you know," Sin stated in a neutral manner. "You got no one to blame but your forefathers. And foremothers."

"… foremothers? Is there even such a word?" Kakashi asked.

"Now, now, Kakashi-sensei… equal opportunity no matter what the sex," Sin replied. "You don't want to be branded as a sexist, now, would you?"

"… that doesn't make sense…"

"It doesn't mean it does," Sin smirked… and the two continued walking towards Tazuna's house.

To Be Continued:

Sin visits and looks at the local Wave Country experience, whilst giving Sakura some tips, and meeting with Haku. NEXT!


	4. Wave Country Sin

Sakura… was in hell… or what she thought was hell. Everything around her burned in purple flames, and she saw naked people avoiding it… and she knew why. Earlier, a man had accidentally touched the flame, and he was suddenly turned to ashes… the last thing from his mouth was an unearthly scream.

"No… take me away from here…" she closed her eyes. "I don't belong here!"

"But you do, Haruno-san…" said a male voice behind her. The pink haired girl turned around and saw Sin behind her… still with a coat and clothes, but his glasses were no where seen. Instead, she could see red fiery eyes. "You deserve to be in Hell."

"Why? What did I do?" Sakura asked desperately.

"For your sins… you are condemned to a prison in which you cannot escape. A prison… for your darkened and mutilated soul…" he motioned Sakura to look at her hands… and she did. She gasped. Her skin… her beautiful skin was… ugly! Black… like some sticky disease was attached to her!

"But… But what sin!" she shouted in her last desperate attempt to make sense of her world.

"You have been annoying Uchiha Sasuke for the longest period of time… and therefore… sentenced to be damned."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

**Sin Eater**

**Wave Country Sin**

Sakura gasped as she sat up from her futon, her forehead drenched in sweat. Her heavy breaths and her moving eyes had her thoughtless for a few moments… and it was only when someone spoke out did she recover herself.

"Nightmare, Haruno-san?"

Even in the darkness, she recognized the voice… It was Sin. She gave another gasp, and looked at her arms. Her skin was back to their beautiful color. She gave a sigh of relief.

"Must have been a powerful nightmare to give you jitters even if you have awakened," Sin's voice sounded very calm, and very steady.

"It's… nothing…" Sakura replied to the darkness. "What time is it?"

"Five in the morning. The sun is slowly showing itself…" Sin replied. "An hour from now, Kakashi-san will call you so you and Uchiha-san would continue training."

The word Uchiha-san gave shivers to Sakura's spine. "… Sin…"

"… yes?" Sin gave a reply.

"What… happens to sinners?" she asked. "You told Zabusa before… Souls mutilate themselves in when they commit a sin… so… I was just wondering…" she gave a small sigh, and she strengthened her resolve. "Is there really any bad effects of sin? Do people who have black souls go to… hell?"

"Hell… where did you hear those words?" Sin asked.

"My mother… she said… that bad people go there… so I should be a good girl and all…" Sakura silently replied.

"It's… funny how ninja villages seem to still put the presence of hell in children so that they would not misbehave," Sin laughed a bit. It was a soft, almost soundless laugh, but Sakura heard it, and was partly glad. The boy in black never seem to give off almost no emotions… remaining neutral at almost all times and circumstances, almost like Sasuke, except to a much more advanced degree. The Sasuke was stoic at most of the times… but when pressure builds, Sasuke cracks first, showing a range of emotions even the slightest. Sin… he doesn't even seemed fazed when facing off an A-Level missing nin.

"And why is that funny?" Sakura asked, temper going up. "Its practical… telling children that if they do bad things, they'd go to hell when they die… so they won't misbehave in fear of going to that bad place."

"Yet ninjas everyday do bad things," Sin replied. "There is truth in what Zabusa-san had said… ninjas are people who bring death. Tools, if I dare say so myself. And I have told him… killing for the wrong reason is a sin… and believe me… there is a rarely a kill which has justification."

"… alright, it's ironic… but stop avoiding the question," Sakura stated, her temper up. "Is there, or is there no hell?"

Sin was silent for a minute. "In my studies… I have come across Hell in a few times in my reading. One describes hell as a place filled with brimstone and fire. Another tells Hell as a place where souls would be judged. There are many versions of hell… but basically have one principle… it's a place for people who die and mostly likely condemned."

"… do you believe in hell?" Sakura asked.

"I remain neutral about it," Sin replied. "I have not died… and therefore, cannot say if there is a hell or not."

"But… you judge… souls… and talk about mutilation of souls and such!" Sakura stated.

"I don't judge. Well… not literally judge. I see and peer into the souls of people… and I go back to my code, and see what the next action would be," Sin said. "For example, during my bout with Zabusa-san… I told him I would have to kill him because his soul has blackened to a very worst degree and because he is a threat to us… If I had met him normally, I would have ignored him. He is after all, just an A-Class missing nin, and therefore, not my business. But since he attacked us, he became my business, and therefore, I said I would kill him in my own hands."

"… So… nothing is really wrong having a darkened soul, right…" Sakura asked timidly.

"Haruno-san, there is a reason why a Universe has a law for sin. If all souls follow it, then there must be a being of superpowers out there who made it so… and if there is anything I have learned from my studies, is that nothing is done without a reason," Sin replied. "Who knows… maybe there is a hell. Maybe not. But self-mutilating souls don't come about without a reason."

"… oh…"

"Are these questions related to your nightmare?" Sin asked.

Sakura went silent for a minute, before she gave a cordial "Yes…"

"Mind elaborating?" Sin asked.

Sakura told him of her nightmare… how her hell was a place filled with people avoiding the walls of purple flames, and how Sin appeared and said that she deserved to be in hell because she's been very sinful because she was annoying Sasuke to the highest degree…

"So… basically… I just had the weirdest and scariest nightmare in my whole life!" Sakura declared, looking at the darkness, hoping to see some sign of Sin. The windows seemed to show the few first rays of light.

"And… you are curious if your nightmare is actually… real?" Sin asked.

"Well… I was just wondering if… well… I think you know…" Sakura sighed, her shoulders sagged.

Sin was silent again… then Sakura heard a soft rustling movement. The rays of light began to spread around the room, and when Sin was illuminated, Sakura jumped a bit back in surprise. There was Sin, his coat and shirt gone, standing and looking at her with his eyes… the eyes she already saw… Sin's upper torso is what her eyes were stuck.

He was built… really built. Compact muscles plus six pack abdomen, it was no surprise that Sin was fast and powerful… maybe even more so than Sasuke, as Sakura would hate to admit it… but that was not what caught her attention. What caught her attention was the many tattoos on Sin's body… most of them were seals… especially in the stomach area. In there, there was a spiral… well, almost a spiral. In between the spaces of the spiral, there's what seemed to be some grey coloring around it…

Sin caught her looking, and answered immediately. "These are seals… they house the sins I have eaten."

"… y… you eat sins!" Sakura asked, shocked.

"It's my ability," Sin replied. "Ever since I could remember, I had that ability."

"… but… but…"

"What's the purpose of my eating of sins?" Sin asked. Sakura just nodded. "Well… like I stated earlier, sin and its rules have a purpose… what if there really is last judgment? What if the judgment is nothing but a peer to your soul, and to see how black it is? If it's very black… you go to hell… if it is not, then you go to heaven?"

"... okay…?" Sakura asked stupidly, not really knowing what to reply.

"Since we really can't say, why not make sure? Even with hunting of Q-Class missing nins, and occasionally S-class missing nins as training, I have a sideline. I visit those close to death… and see if they are worth to be cleansed."

"… cleansed?"

"I eat the part of souls which have been blackened," Sin replied easily. "Take out the bad parts… and let the clean ones reform itself. Souls are self-sustaining energies… even if a part of it is gone, as long as it hasn't been sealed, they'll re-grow the parts which have been destroyed or eaten up."

"… oh… so… you eat blackened parts out…" Sakura replayed what Sin had said. "When you do that… the one which is left in the soul will reform and there would be no sin left… and therefore the person will go to heaven… IF there is, as you don't know yourself… right?"

"It's… an assurance. Especially to those who have done monstrosities in their youth… yet have reformed," Sin stated.

"How would you know if a person is worth cleansing?" Sakura asked.

"Easy… peer down their souls… and see what their past holds… and peer at the clean parts, and see what the person tried to reform himself," Sin declared. "Like you Haruno-san… it seems that peeing in your own futon and burning it… and claiming it as an accident haunts you."

Sakura's face turned to a deep shade of red. "H… HOW!"

"Your souls contain all memories, and I can view them while I check your soul," Sin replied simply. Sakura glared at him. "What? Didn't you ask me if being annoying to Uchiha-san is a sin? I'm checking your mutilated souls right now…"

"You… keep that… memory to yourself… you hear!" Sakura said menacingly, raising her fist. Sin hit a very sensitive nerve…

Sin just smiled. "Well… I really can't say annoying Uchiha-san is a sin… but cutting a few strands of his hair, spying him whilst he's dressing up, or even making up stories on how Uchiha-san and you slept together are sins…"

Sakura's mouth gaped.

"Well… at least you know," Sin smiled. He began to walk towards the chair, which had his shirt and coat. "Haruno-san… here is some practical advice. Take it slow. Uchiha-san seems to be busy and training himself for something… There will not be any result if you try to keep forcing yourself upon him. Train with him… he'll respect you when you gain strength… then maybe then you can slowly start something."

He slowly put on his shirt and coat, whipped his shades, and left the room. Sakura looked at him and then looked at her right… there Sasuke was sleeping peacefully, his back turned at her. The three genins were sharing a room that at first Sakura thought would be great, being very close to Sasuke… but the training just kept draining her that every time she laid down her futon, she would just fall asleep.

"Oh well…" Sakura whispered. "At least… Sasuke hasn't heard anything…"

Sasuke's eyes were open though… and he indeed heard everything. He wondered who Sin really was… and more importantly… did that boy ever sleep?

ZZ

The two genins came down for breakfast after Kakashi had called them a quarter past six. By that time, Sin was already in the table, fully dressed, hair a bit wet, and smelling a bit like what Sakura had identified as Mountain Fresh scent of Nin-Dal, the leading commercial soap used mostly by ninjas because of the soaps ability to take out the smell of death or blood. It seemed that Sin was a bit of a clean freak… that even if he wore almost the same clothes (Sasuke is suspecting that Sin even washes his clothes as he takes a bath… most probably in a lake or a river nearby) he would always smell fresh.

Mingling with his scent is the scent of breakfast… this time it was rice with fried freshly caught fish. There is also a simple soup made from some vegetables and a piece of small chicken to add flavor to the liquid. Sakura looked at the daughter of Tazuna who seems to smile. She loves to feed them, even though they have not much to offer. Everyone in Wave Country were dirt poor… the meal in front of them was considered a feast already…

Tazuna's family is going to get poorer and poorer… maybe a reason why that boy Inari still does not speak to them. For a young boy with no ninjitsu training, he keeps himself well hidden. Sin obviously seems to know as he still hasn't touched his food. So far, Sin only seemed to eat only once a day, which made Tazuna's daughter quite nervous. She kept giving glances at the boy in black, who had his shades on once again.

Again, another day… Sakura and Sasuke would both climb trees… the raven haired boy was very close to the top of the tree… and Sakura had expanded her charka reserves that she was now more or less able to catch up. Kakashi was quite glad of their improvements. He had first thought that if Sin would join them, they would at least build an essence of teamwork. But since Sin could, as he claimed, walk on air already, there was no point in doing charka exercises for him. He was better off in taking turns with Kakashi in guarding both Tazuna as he builds the bridge, and watching over the house.

But nevertheless, Sin's presence had a very dramatic effect on the two genins. Sasuke kept pushing himself as hard as he could possibly can to get to Sin's level. Sakura had somewhat changed… though there is no solid evidence to prove that Sin had to do anything, but ever since he came, Sakura had been working her ass off more than usual. To a teacher like Kakashi, that more than a good enough reason for Sin to remain longer in the team. And with his skills, Kakashi didn't have to work double time to guard both Tazuna and the family, as he and Sin would take turns shifting duty. When Kakashi would guard Tazuna, Sin would stay and guard Tazuna's house.

Yesterday, Kakashi stayed at the house, whilst Sin looked out for Tazuna in the bridge. Now, its time to switch, and at the same time, Tazuna's daughter wanted to go out and buy more food for the family and their ninja guests. And since Inari still hasn't come out of his room… nor appeared anytime other than lunch, or dinner. Sin guessed that the boy seemed to escape and go out on his own because no one can be that quiet at very long hours in his or her room. Tazuna's daughter affirmed this, when Sin asked if it was okay to leave the boy at the house as they would both go out and buy supplies and food.

"It's okay, don't worry about Inari. If you didn't know, he usually leaves, especially since you have arrived," she replied to Sin, apologetic. "I don't know where or how he goes out without being noticed or using the front door."

"I believe he uses his window… either climbing down or jumping down, I really can't decide," Sin stated. He gave a jovial yet small smile as he went out and held the door out for the lady. She went out with a thankful bow, and both went towards the town.

Both walked towards the town in silence, though the woman's eyes kept glancing at Sin, whilst Sin looked straight without any wasted movement. As they approached the town, the woman now began to move to the stores. The streets were filled with poor and dirty people, each one looking down at the ground, like they weren't worthy to raise their heads high. Children ran around playing simple games like tag, and look like stick figures, and some shady people kept looking around, maybe a victim to mug for money.

The final nail at the coffin was the stores that they went. Each had so little stock… and poor quality as well. It seems Tazuna's family is the only one that can afford a few vegetables and a few pieces of beef; Sin looked around, a frown on his face. The woman who he had been accompanying gave a small smile… "Wave Country wasn't always like this."

"I read," Sin gave a steady reply. When the woman gave him a questioning look, he explained, "I know about Wave Country's history. Before Gatou came… when he came… the killings… the martial rule over the country… I know of it because I have studied history of the world and its cities."

"Oh… but… reading it isn't similar in knowing and experiencing it."

"True," Sin replied. "Hence, I am trying to experience what these people are experiencing. I watch their states, see how they live, smell the air they breath…"

"Not eat food?" the woman cut in, smiling weakly.

Sin looked at her. He gave a small smile. "Does it bother you that I seem to only eat once a day?"

She shook her head… stopped… then gave a small nod.

"Are you thinking that I pity your family?" Sin asked quietly.

"No… yes… it's just…" she sighed. "You and your team is doing a lot for us… the least we could do is feed you properly… not let you starve… but… you…"

Sin cut her off gently. "If it bothers you, then maybe I should tell you of my condition…"

"Condition?" she asked. "What condition?"

"My body… houses special energies. These energies keep me alive without depending on food, water… or even air at times. This energy gives me great amount of strength, speed, immunity from foreign substances, and almost unlimited invurnability," Sin looked on the floor. "But… the energy doesn't allow me to feel almost anything. I can't feel pain, sadness, happiness… human emotions. I can smile, but the smile is nothing. It's empty. I can't taste anything, nor smell anything… at times, I don't even feel human anymore."

"… that's… sad…" she frowned at him. She gave him a reproachful look. "You don't feel anything…? Never?"

"No… no hunger… no thirst… almost no life. One day… I can feel emotions… I can smell things… I can taste things… but not in my current state," Sin gave the woman a small smile. "One day, I'll be able to feel them again… and then slowly, lose the feeling. It's… my destiny, I guess." Sin's eyes suddenly darted towards his left, and then back again to the woman he was accompanying. "Um, would you excuse me for now? I spotted something interesting… you'd be okay now going home, right?"

"Yes… I think so…" looking at Sin, surprised. "It's just a few more meters… why, where are you going?"

"Somewhere," Sin said softly, and began to walk towards the forest. The woman looked, then shrugged, and walked back to her home.

ZZ

In the forest, Haku was collecting some herbs to help Zabusa to his feet when he slowly heard soft rustling sounds behind him. He turned his head, only to see the same young man who battled Zabusa days before, his hands on his pockets, walking towards him. The boy gave him a wave.

"Hello," he greeted.

"Hi…" Haku greeted back.

"Nice day, isn't it?" Sin asked, moving his head to look at his surroundings. "Sunny, yet not too hot… perfect if I say so myself."

"It's rather a good day," Haku gave a small smile. "Who are you…?"

"Call me Sin. You?" Sin asked.

"Haku," the other boy replied.

Sin just nodded. "Are you collecting some herbs for Zabusa-san, Haku-san?"

ZZ

Sasuke and Sakura both wiped the water off their faces. Training that morning really gave them a workout, and hence they came back to the house to recover a bit, and probably drink some water. They agreed that both would continue climbing, and maybe swap jutsus and then go home again during lunch when Tazuna's daughter arrived, without any company.

"Don't you have an escort?" Sasuke asked, stone-faced.

"Sin… well, he accompanied me, then went somewhere…" she replied sheepishly. Sakura and Sasuke both looked at each other. "Well… if you guys are hungry, lunch is coming after an hour or so…"

"Thanks, we'll be here," Sakura smiled as she replied, and both she and Sasuke left the house. Going near the forest, Sakura asked her silent cute friend, "Where do you think Sin went?"

"Don't know," Sasuke replied silently. Sin wasn't the type to leave his assignments… or at least that's the impression he usually gives. He shrugged. "Let's continue training."

Sakura gave a small smile. "Yeah, sure."

ZZ

"Zabusa is doing well…" Haku didn't miss a beat when he replied back to Sin. He had a sneaking suspicion that Sin recognized him anyway. Guess his suspicion was right on the money.

Sin gave a silent nod, and continued to look at Haku collecting herbs. After a few moments, he asked, "Are you aware of the situation of this country?"

"Yes…"

"Then why are you and Zabusa working along with Gatou?" Sin asked.

"Gatou is the only person willing to hire us," Haku gave a quick reply. He looked at Sin. "You do know Zabusa-sama's situation?"

"Yes, I'm quite aware," Sin replied.

"Then you must at least understand his motives," Haku stated.

"Maybe… but what do you feel in this situation?" Sin asked.

"My feelings aren't relevant… I will follow Zabusa-sama to hell itself," Haku replied.

"But it is to me…" Sin gave a soft whisper. "Is there any part of you which regrets or want to change this situation? Would you want something better for you and Zabusa-san? Do you like working for Gatou? Are you sure you are doing the right thing?"

Haku thought back to the day Gatou and two of his guards visited Zabusa… his fist tightened and his knuckles turned white. Sin registered that as his answer. "I would never leave Zabusa-sama…"

Sin gave a short nod, and turned around, and began to walk away. Haku's eyes narrowed, and his hands dove towards his pocket.

Birds flew away from the trees… yet the forest seemed undisturbed.

ZZ

Sasuke and Sakura were walking towards the training grounds when they noticed a girl with a basket walking away from them. Sasuke had a sneaking suspicion that the girl was actually a boy, but did not pay attention to him that much. He gave the figure… boy or girl… a look, and continued walking until both he and Sakura came to the clearing… only to see Sin lying on the ground, with a needle stuck to his neck.

Sakura screamed.

Behind them… the boy held his basket so tight that his knuckles were turning white again. The boy in black was in his head, asking…

_Are you sure you are doing the right thing? _

To Be Continued…

With Sin gone, it seems Zabusa woudnt have trouble anymore as he attacks Team 7 with Haku! Conclusion towards the battle for the bridge, NEXT!


	5. Dead Wake

**Demon Eyes Laharl Presents**

**Sin Eater**

**Dead Wake**

"… This isn't possible…" Kakashi muttered as he watched Sin's body being laid to where he usually slept. Sasuke had found his dead body in the forest, took note of the surroundings, and brought back Sin to Tazuna's house.

"I think he was caught off guard…" Sasuke muttered. "Look at his neck… puncture wound."

"… one fatal strike…" Kakashi muttered. "Sin probably didn't even feel a thing."

Tazuna was frozen looking at the lifeless boy and Tazuna's daughter was now slowly forming tears in her eyes. They kept silent as the three other ninjas looked on their dead comrade.

"This settles it…" Kakashi suddenly said, and frowned, something clearly seen on his eye as his mouth covered his mouth.

"… This settles what, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked timidly, visibly shaken by the death of her teammate… It wasn't that she knew Sin closely… after all, he was just a new addition to the team… but he gave her some words yesterday that she followed. Not exactly friendly, but always civil, she wondered if she would know the boy more. Maybe not, now that he's dead.

"Sin and I believed that Zabusa was still alive… and this confirms it."

Tazuna and Sakura both gasped, while Sasuke remained stoic.

"W… what do you mean Kakashi?" Tazuna asked.

"Do you remember our last fight with Zabusa?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes… I remember it well…" Tazuna replied.

"Remember the end… how he was killed?" Kakashi asked.

"Needles in the nec…" Sakura stopped as Kakashi pointed out Sin's neck. "Oh my God…"

"Exactly… of course, we can say that any ninja might have just waltzed in and killed Sin using a Senbon… but considering the skill level of Sin, I don't think a common ninja would have caught him off guard," Kakashi explained. "And I don't think its coincidence that the Hunter-nin appeared out of the blue as Zabusa was going to get killed… used needles as weapons… and left with Zabusa's body. And a few days later, Sin, one of the biggest threats to our enemies was killed by a senbon."

"The murder of Zabusa was a rouse… theatrics," Sasuke stated.

"Exactly…" Kakashi muttered. "And also explains that our enemy is getting stronger, which is why they have attacked one of us… Zabusa's recovering."

Sasuke nodded and Sakura gave a small gasp.

"I know… this is sudden, but I will have to increase your training and add a few more duties like guarding, to replace Sin…" Kakashi looked at his two remaining teammates. "… I don't exactly want to make light of this… or sound like a complete cold-hearted bastard, but we're in a middle of a mission. We finish it, and we grieve for him afterwards. Let his death be an example to you… Never… and I do mean never let your guard down."

The two nodded, and some fire began to burn inside them. Kakashi nodded at that and looked at Sin's lifeless body. He was going to bring him back to Konoha. The short time he had arrived at the team, he was never useless, and always seem to give an effect to his teammates. He only wished he met Sin sooner.

Inari had bad timing of today, as he suddenly appeared and stated in a loud voice, before Tazuna or her daughter could stop him, "HA! See! This is what you get for messing with Gatou! You're all going to die!"

He expected some reaction from the girl… but not the sudden glare she gave him. That shut him up quickly, and made him wonder that maybe he shouldn't have said anything. The raven haired boy looked at him seriously, and spoke in a steady tone… "Better being dead than alive like you… a coward."

Inari's eyes suddenly watered. "WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW!"

"Yes, what would I know," Sasuke muttered. "I am a ninja after all… I can die tomorrow… and Sin reminded me of that. But I'd rather live like this… than like you, cowering around. I would fight against all odds and die than to watch, shaking in fear, as someone threatens or kills my family."

Kakashi looked at the Uchiha genius. It was rare that he ever talked about his family… or even mentions the word. After all, his remaining relative would be the man he would want to kill. Hell, if one read the statement underneath its underneath… did Sasuke just claim that his team was his family?

Inari lost the battle… this was concluded when he upped and ran away, crying hard. Tazuna and his daughter seemed to be lost now… Kakashi and his two students looked back at Sin.

Time to double up.

* * *

For three days straight, Sasuke and Sakura continued to do tree exercises, and sometimes, rarely, exchanged a few tips. Sakura's charka control was top notch of her team, and no one really argued against it, so she gave a lot of help to Sasuke who was slowly getting frustrated by his snail paced progress. In return, Sasuke given her a few tips on taijutsu, and occasionally sparred with her. 

On the two odd days, Sakura had joined up with Kakashi to guard the construction of the bridge, whilst Sasuke guarded Tazuna's daughter every time she went out, after of course, both had 6 hours of early training, and later, after dinner, squeeze in 2 or so hours. The one even day they switched roles. Slowly, Kakashi smiled slightly as he saw the improvement of Sasuke's charka control, and Sakura's taijutsu improvement.

Sin's body was buried in the forest… and from time to time, Kakashi makes a point to visit the grave occasionally. Silent at times, reading his book or maybe speaking, he didn't know why he seemed to be attracted to the grave. Maybe it was the weird spark of charka appearing ever so often? For some odd reason, Kakashi expected for Sin to magically appear alive, but they checked his body… no charka movement, no pulse… he was definitely dead.

But then again, he knew the Order members don't easily die that easily… or maybe they do. Maybe they were just like ninjas… putting a strong face that they seem almost impossible to defeat. Maybe this was actually the truth… the Order can be killed, and are human as well. Or maybe this was an elaborate set-up…

Kakashi would wound up more confused than before, but those questions never really did bother him. His students were improving immensely… and he knew he had to thank Sin… his death was a shocker that seemed to put more drive in his students. He was confident… maybe more so than before… to say… "Bring it on, Zabusa… we're ready for you."

* * *

On the fourth day, an unlikely visitor came to Sin's grave site… Haku, with his mask on his hands. He had been watching Kakashi the Copy Ninja for some time, keeping himself at a very long distance as to not let himself be detected. 

Careful not to step on the place where his body was placed, he just stared at the small stone that signified that the place was indeed a grave. He gave himself a sigh.

"I don't know if you can hear me… but I have been thinking about what you told me," Haku paused a bit. "Your words still echo in my head… and… I might not have answered you that time… and I have rather been rude not to answer it before I killed you… so I'm here to rectify that. I have finally have an answer for you."

Haku took a deep breath. "I do realize what I have been doing is wrong. I understand the situation of the country. I know helping Gatou would further undermine this society, and maybe in the long run, wipe out this country from the face of the earth… but I cannot abandon Zabusa-sama. Not for morals, not for anything. My loyalty to him is to the end. He saved my life, and I owe him that. Some people may not understand it… but… I love him. He was the father that I wanted." He gave another pause. "I know he is using me… and I am fine with that. He's my family… my precious person. I'll follow him to the ends of the earth."

Putting on his mask, his demeanor changed. "Zabusa-sama recovered enough today… and Kakashi-san seems to have been expecting us. He took his whole team towards the bridge."

With that… Haku jumped away to join up Zabusa.

* * *

Kakashi was hoping that maybe he was just getting old… he hoped that today wasn't the day that his gut was right. He had prayed that he was wrong by a week or so… but being a ninja, he didn't show much disappointment when the mist around the bridge suddenly thickened to the point that he knew nature had no hand in it. 

Sasuke and Sakura tensed when they felt a spike of charka suddenly going nearer to them… Kakashi guessed that the charka spike meant that Zabusa wasn't trying to hide his presence anymore. Again, that thought was confirmed when two shadows suddenly came from the mists, and slowly revealed Zabusa and that masked Hunter-nin.

"Zabusa," Kakashi greeted.

"Copy Ninja… how nice to see you again," Zabusa seemingly smiled. "I'm sorry for the delay… your other student gave me quite a shock last time… caught an old man by surprise."

"The surprise is seeing you call yourself an old man," Kakashi gave a wry smile himself. "Of course, if you're meaning to distract us… it's not going to work. I already foreseen what you were going to do."

"Oh?" Zabusa asked, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

"Sasuke… Sakura…" Kakashi muttered.

It didn't take a second when 8 clones fell from the sky, and surrounded Kakashi, his team, and Tazuna. It also didn't take long when Sakura and Sasuke suddenly moved, and in 2 seconds… destroyed all the clones. Once again, Zabusa raised his eyebrows. It seems Kakashi's students have improved a great deal. Even the weak pink haired one had managed to destroy 3 of his clones.

"Your students have improved, Copy Ninja…" Zabusa commented a bit, his voice hinting a bit of respect. "Especially the boy… he might even match speed with Haku, here…"

The hunter-nin stepped forward. Sasuke's eyes darted to him, and also took a step forward. Sakura was about to follow when he saw Sasuke give her a slight look. She nodded, and went back to her position.

"I'm guessing you are the one that killed Sin-san," Sasuke said softly.

The hunter-nin just nodded.

Sasuke didn't even need to reply as he suddenly dashed towards Haku… who at the same time, also dashed towards Sasuke. Kunai met senbon as they parried each other's attacks, moving from left to right, going circles around each other. Sasuke frowned a bit as he found themselves evenly matched at speed… but he could go a wee bit faster, so concentrating a lot of chakra in his legs, he caught Haku off guard when he finally succeeded in parrying away the senbon, and gave a solid clean kick to his gut.

Haku lost that round, and he knew as he slid away. Sasuke smirked and charged once again.

* * *

The man took another slash at the tree as he and his companion were slowly going towards Tazuna's house.

"Can you stop doing that?" his companion asked. "You do know these katana's aren't cheap. Gatou's gonna have a fit if he's gonna have to replace your weapon!"

"Relax… these come from Mist Country, the best place to get swords," the former replied. "You'd think with that kind of reputation, these swords aren't that easy to break." He continued to keep slashing out on trees, and one time, on a poor wild pig who somehow survived.

"Every weapon dulls, no matter how good it was created," his companion explained. "The best swords are those unused. They will never be as sharp as it was before it was used. This is why we have to visit the blacksmiths once a while to re-forge our swords. Of course, you can skip that if you continuously clean your sword after every use, which I should remind you that you never do?"

"Hey… a sword is a tool…"

"Wrong, a sword is an extension of you," the latter was getting tired of this. Was he the only one who actually knew how to handle a katana?

"Alright, alright… lets just get on with it," the former said, annoyed. Can't his companion have any fun? Sure, the man joined in his few scare-the-people-shitless routine, but when it came about the sword, he was there to lecture how to handle, what not to do, and why cutting down unarmed people isn't good. "We'll just kidnap Tazuna's daughter, and use her to scare him from stopping the construction of the bridge. Can we cut the little kid she has?"

"No… she'd prolly kill herself if we tried. We don't wanna go back to Gatou without a hostage… right?"

"Feh… you're now fun."

* * *

"One handed seals!" Kakashi's eyes widened as water stomped into the air turned to ice needles that tried to create a pin cushion out of Sasuke. Fortunately, training paid off for the young Uchiha as he put charka on his legs to escape almost unscathed. But trouble was not over as ice mirrors began to form around Sasuke, surrounding him.

"Sasuke!" Sakura almost dashed towards her crush if it wasn't for Kakashi's hand that suddenly held her down, stopping her immediately.

"Wait… Sakura!" Kakashi muttered. "I've never seen this kind of jutsu done before. Even the way he forms ice and elements are even more unknown." Kakashi uncovered his sharingan eye to see the charka flow of the technique. "I knew it… bloodline ability."

"Bloodline?" Sakura was surprised. Bloodline abilities, as taught in the Academy, were specific and special ninja abilities that were specific to a bloodline… mostly found on clans. The sharingan itself is a bloodline ability. All bloodline abilities can't be copied.

"That is correct," Zabusa's voice rang… the mist was getting thicker. "But Haku isn't just another ninja with a special bloodline. He is also a quick thinker, and an astute observer. He found a weakness to your precious sharingan…"

"Oh?" Kakashi asked. The mist was now swirling around so thick that the battle between Sasuke and Haku vanished… the only thing that indicated that they were still at it were the battle sounds they were producing.

"Sharingan is still an eye… and you still need to see your opponent to use it."

The voice vanished. Kakashi's eyes narrowed. If there was anything that was said about Zabusa in the bingo book was that Zabusa was the master of the silent kills, being able to move through the mist and cut down the opponent before they could even blink. This is why it earned him the name "Devil of the Mist".

Meanwhile, Sasuke was busy trying to dodge needles that seemed to be coming at him from all directions. At first… he was blindly going on instinct on where to go, but as time passed on, he slowly began to see Haku's movements. Just barely though, but that 'barely' has helped him avoid some rather nasty attacks; his neck would have had more holes.

Sakura watched rather helplessly as Sasuke was trapped inside an ice cage, while Kakashi is fighting Zabusa in the thick mist. Her hand was still on Tazuna, as the mist got thicker.

She was slowly losing hope.

* * *

Inari's face was stricken with tears. His feet seemingly cemented on the ground. Out of nowhere, two hired swordsmen carrying katanas came and grabbed his mother. And he could only watch.

'Don't hurt him…' his mom said. She threatened to kill herself if they ever harmed him. She was willing to go quietly only if they didn't hurt her little boy.

Inari could only think 'Why' and 'How stupid' in a hundred times in a span of 3 seconds. Why would mom do this? She can save her life… how stupid can you get making a deal like that? She's acting foolish protecting him… Just like that man. People who resist, die. Bravery is nothing but a dagger through your stomach.

"Are you going to stand there as they take your mom?"

A little voice… Inari always ignored it. What use was it being brave, it will just end your life. Its stupid.

"I would rather die then watch my family suffer…"

The voice was the pretty ninja boy's voice… Inari ignored it again. His mom was being taken away. He can't do anything. He's just a kid. He can't fight two armed men… they'll kill him. He didn't want to die yet. He didn't want to. He didn't want to. He didn't want to.

His mom is being taken.

… He took a step. That step… was all he needed.

"LET GO OF MY MOM!" Inari shouted as he ran towards the kidnappers. He was shaking… his knees were buckling. His hands were shaking and he couldn't hold the knife well. He didn't feel brave. He felt like a damn fool trying to kill a lion with a spoon. His eyes were still in tears… but his mind didn't notice. What he did notice was he didn't want to see his mom go.

"Well… if it isn't the little pipsqueak. You resisting eh? Let me show you what happens to little runts that don't know their place," one of the kidnappers muttered, and grabbed his sword out.

Tsunami's eyes widened. "No! If you hurt him, I'll…"

She didn't get to finish her sentence. The man quickly hit her head with the hilt of his sword hard enough to knock her out. "Shut up, girly," he muttered. "I'm gonna cut myself some fresh meat."

"Dude, we got the girl, lets go!" his partner declared, catching Tsunami as she fell.

"I'm just gonna teach this runt a lesson." The smile was evil as he approached the little kid who was pointing the kitchen knife at him. "Whatcha gonna do kid?"

"DON'T COME NEAR ME!" Inari shouted. "LEAVE MY MOM ALONE!"

"What if I don't want to?" he gave another dark chuckle. "I eat little kids like you for lunch. I guess tomorrow… you'll be my sashimi."

Inari shouted as he charged towards him with the knife, opting to stab him before he could move. The older man just took his foot up and violently kicked him in the head that pushed him towards the ground, the knife flying away from Inari's hand.

"HAHAHA… kid's got a spark on him…" the older man picked up the semi unconscious Inari by the hand and lifted him.

"Dude, lets go," his partner declared. The former ignored him.

"Hey kid… you awake? Good…" He took his sword and showed it to Inari. "I'll show you what happens to arms that take up pointy and sharp things at me…"

Grinning, the man prepared to take a swipe out of the boy's arm, intending to cut it cleanly between two. The pain of the slice would be almost none… until the body knows that something has gone wrong. Blood will spurt, but that's okay with him. It's the screaming he's after. And those fear in the eyes.

But when he did the swipe, something grabbed him and stopped his momentum completely. A black gloved hand grabbing his wrist… He looked sideways to see who dared get in his way when he froze looking at icy blue eyes staring at him.

"You do know it's rude, to wake up the dead," and with a crack, the older man shouted in agony as his wrist seemed to have been crushed to powder.

"You… fucking BASTARD!" he tried to kick what seemed to be a shadow with blue eyes, only for his leg to be grabbed, and another crack vibrated through the air, and he screamed again as his knee was sunken.

The eyes went to the partner who was frozen on his place. "Care to join?" the shadow muttered.

"No sir…" and he ran away.

"Heh… smart," the shadow's hand went towards the older man's neck. "Inari… close your eyes."

The boy didn't need to be ordered… his eyes were tightly closed since the first crack sound. The shadow then lifted the man, squeezing his neck at the same time, and slamed him hard on the ground, and with a final crack, the neck was now… well… not in its natural position.

Inari was still conscious due to his will to save his mother, but the kick on the head was now taking its toll. He opened his eyes to see who rescued him. "… im… possible…" he muttered before the ringing on his head was too much for him, and slumped on the ground slowly.

The last thing he heard was his savior muttering "That damn Kakashi had to bury me with my clothes."

* * *

Inari woke up on the couch of his home, and immediately sat up and looked around automatically. He breathed easier when he saw his mom just lying unconscious in another couch.

"You awake?"

Inari looked up… and pointed at the figure with shaky hands. "… you… you're supposed to be dead…!"

Sin smirked a bit. "Was until your screaming woke me up. You should be glad to not be a ninja… or else you'd be a really low rank ninja. But I am surprised how you stood up to them. I guess you are braver than I thought."

Inari bowed his head. "… I wasn't brave… couldn't stop shaking. I… I couldn't let them take my mom."

"That is bravery," Sin muttered, as he began to pace around. He seemed to be looking for something.

"No… I was being a fool… pretending to be brave."

"Foolishness is to face anything without feeling scared. Bravery is still standing up even if you just want to fall," Sin said philosophically. "You were shaking… scared stiff… yet you charged in to defend your mother. That is bravery…"

Inari took a moment to let that sink into him. He gave a small smile. He was about to thank him when he noticed that Sin was still pacing around. "What are you looking for?"

"My shades," Sin replied.

"Its with that silver haired man," Inari replied.

"Oh…? Then I gotta get it back from him then," Sin muttered. He went towards the door, and opened it, and was about to leave when he looked back at the kid. "See ya around, Inari."

Sin walked out of the house… time to get his shades back.

To Be Continued…

NEXT: Battle in the Bridge continues as Sin re-appears. The conclusion of Wave Country mission… next!


	6. Requiem of the Innocent

**Sin Eater**

**Requiem of the Innocent**

Kakashi breathed deeply, and pushed his legs up as he dodged a slash on the last second. His attacker, Zabuza, the Devil of the Mist, pressed on his attack. First and second blood was his already, and he was feeling confident about the whole duel.

Team Seven was already operating at a disadvantage… the blonde creepy kid who Zabuza had much trouble with was gone. Haku had pretty much reported to him, just a few days ago, that he had disposed of the boy easily… a swift stroke, a needle to the neck.

It was a perfect kill… worthy of a shinobi. Moreover, because of that one act, the Zabuza and his protégé were closer to victory.

"Your movements are slowing, Copy Cat," Zabuza sneered. "Do not tell me one of Konoha's finest is nothing without his eye?"

The jounin-sensei stayed silent, his head forming a few plans, each with a back-up plan in case any of them failed, but with Zabuza's annoying mist jutsu, plus his heavy Head Cleaving sword, the only thing Kakashi could do for now was be on the defensive.

In actuality, Kakashi had the skills and capacity to finish this battle immediately, but the problem was it would leave him with very little chakra, a no-no as he couldn't leave Sakura, who was guarding Tazuna a few paces away, and Sasuke, who was currently engaging Haku, unprotected.

Speaking of the said Uchiha, he was imprisoned in a dome of ice mirrors. It was created by a bloodline ability of the fake hunter-nin, Haku. The mirrors acted as some sort of portal for the Demon of the Mist's partner who could, in near instantaneous speed, transfer from one mirror to another.

Faced against such almost impossible odds, Sasuke looked like someone had been using him as a pin-cushion. No matter what he did, he'd get hit. Dodge to the left, he'd have to contend to an attack to the right; escaping the dome was useless and his most powerful fire jutsu wasn't even strong enough to crack the mirrors.

Sasuke growled. He had been constantly pumping chakra to his legs just to keep taking all the hits, but sooner or later, either his legs would give, or his stamina. The only shining light in this battle was somehow, his eyes were slowly adjusting to Haku's speed.

Back to Kakashi, who was cut once more by Zabuza's blade, took a moment, a breather, when he didn't sense the Mist-nin pausing on his attacks. The fog around him was just getting thicker, and Zabuza continued taunting him.

"Heh… I guess the Leaf isn't as powerful as they say…"

Kakashi continued his silence, still trying to grab an opportunity when the missing-nin suddenly lunged at him. With no choice, he continued on his battle, blocking the attacking sword with his kunai, when he noticed something…

The attack was pretty weak…

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Did the missing-nin get careless? For a wild moment, he had wondered if Zabuza was running empty on chakra. It wasn't a far-fetched guess as the man had constantly been using his chakra to maintain the mist, and also enhancing his speed and strength… but…

Not wanting to distract himself, the jounin-sensei just went for the kill. Countering the next attack cleanly, his kunai dove swiftly to the missing-nin's chest… then, the whole body turned to a blob of water, dispersing itself on the ground.

Water Clone!? Kakashi's thoughts scrambled, wondering where the real Zabuza had gone… On his left? Right? Behind…?

There was a scream. His eyes widened. The jounin-sensei dashed towards Sakura, who was the source the shriek… Zabuza had for gone for his main objective…

Sakura shivered, uselessly trying to raise her weapon to defend herself and her client, who was behind her… and their enemy, the Demon of the Mist, was right in front of her.

"Too late!" Zabuza declared as he readied his weapon. His arms stretched, knowing one swig would finally finish it all… too bad for the pink-haired girl, but she was on his way…

Kakashi didn't know what to do… it was too late for him to do anything. Memories of his past… of his friend, Obito came to mind as he saw the inevitable result of his carelessness…

However, before his thoughts could get anymore depressed and brooding, a shadow suddenly seemed to rise from the ground, stopping Zabuza's attack completely.

The Demon of the Mist looked terribly confounded at first, only to wonder who or how his attack was stopped… and went dead on his tracks when he saw clear blue eyes staring at him.

"Impossible…!" he gasped, shocked. "Haku said you were-"

"Dead?" a cold, and rather lifeless voice cut the missing-nin off. "Not quite, Zabuza-san."

Kakashi's eyes widened, and so did Sakura's and Tazuna's. The voice was a dead (no pun intended) giveaway of who had come to Sakura's rescue.

"Sin!" the pink-haired kunoichi declared, tears forming in her eyes as she saw her newly acquired, but thought deceased, teammate in front of her.

"Yappo…" Sin greeted back without looking at her. It was silly, but it was the most re-assuring thing Sakura had heard all day.

"Impossible…!" Kakashi muttered. "You were definitely…"

"Dead, yes, I know Kakashi-san…" Sin sighed. "I know you're the known Copy Cat ninja… but that is just taking it too far."

Tazuna, out of sheer madness or some morbid sense of humor, was the only one who felt comfortable enough to laugh at Sin's little jab at the jounin. Everyone else was somewhat still unnerved to see a supposed dead man on his feet, his hand grabbing on the giant blade Zabuza wielded.

Moreover, when the Demon of the Mist suddenly realized that little tid-bit, he tried to take back his weapon, only to feel it wouldn't budge.

"Hush, Zabuza-san… I'll let go soon," Sin declared, speaking in his usual neutral tone, like he wasn't holding a big sword with his bare hand. The boy looked towards the approaching Kakashi, who seemed out of it. "Kakashi-san… my shades."

"Wha…!?"

"Inari-kun said you had my shades… would you mind?" Sin asked.

Nodding dumbly, Kakashi extracted Sin's pair of shades, and handed it to the boy. Suddenly flexing the arm holding the blade, he threw Zabuza off a few meters away, and with his hand now free, grabbed the spectacles and put them over his eyes.

"You can finish it now Kakashi-san… I'll help Uchiha-san," the spectacled boy declared, and walked past Tazuna and Sakura, waving slightly at them as he passed.

Kakashi, finally recovering, looked relieved as he realized his powerful ally had returned. His eyes looked towards Zabuza, who still seemed a bit stunned himself.

"Let's finish this," the jounin-sensei declared, extracting a scroll from his pocket.

* * *

_Almost… almost…! _Sasuke thought as he could see the movement of the fake hunter-nin. It was getting clearer and clearer with every second… as long as he could hang on, he could finally start his counter-attack…

But alas… his body, in time, felt heavier and heavier. He had multiple senbon needles sticking him almost everywhere. They didn't hit anything vital, nor were they deep enough to give him real trouble, but the prickling paining sensation, along with his fast depleting stamina, the Uchiha prayed and hoped he would be able to find a window of attack soon.

"It's useless," Haku stated in a low voice as once again, he sent a barrage of needles to the young surviving Uchiha, who tried to dodge towards the left, only to get hit in the arms.

Sasuke could only grit his teeth, not wanting to give his opponent the satisfaction of knowing he was hurting. More and more needles came at him, and he couldn't completely dodge them all.

"Give up…" Haku declared, and was about to ready another volley when he suddenly felt a cold shiver run up his spine. He paused, and expanded his senses outwards… there was something odd, but there was also… nothing.

Ignoring the sensation, he went for another assault.

Sasuke dodged them cleanly, making his opponent blink. The youngest Uchiha himself was surprised, but now, he could not only see his opponent's movements, but also the needles.

Thinking the boy was lucky, Haku began his assault again, only for his attack to be proven useless once more. Seething, wondering what was going on, he intensified his attacks, and realized what was going on…

Instead of the black eyes he knew belonged to his opponent, they were red. The masked boy's eyes widened, and before he realized it, the youngest Uchiha had finished the hand-seals for his jutsu.

A stream of fire exuded from Sasuke's mouth. His opponent, though, still had impressive speed and agility that in the last second, he was able to dodge, preventing the fire from roasting him but clipping his pants instead.

Before Sasuke could smirk at his handiwork, there was a soft clap coming from behind him. Surprised, the youngest Uchiha turned, and suddenly paled when he saw who it was.

The masked boy in the mirror didn't look all too pleased as well.

"You…!?" Haku coughed, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Impossible…" Sasuke whispered. "I… I saw you…"

"Dead, yes," Sin declared, shrugging slightly. "Kakashi-san and Zabuza-san were quick to point that out."

The spectacled boy then began slap his neck softly, as trying to take out a few kinks in them, and looked towards Haku's image, the one in front of Sasuke, a look.

"By the way, Haku-san… didn't you feel it was rude to stick a needle in my neck?" the boy in black asked neutrally. "But then again, you're a shinobi, so I guess I should have expected that."

Sin walked towards Sasuke, and stood beside him. The young Uchiha looked at him in question, and the blonde just looked at him.

"Uchiha-san… judging from your injuries and chakra levels, you're at your exhaustion point," Sin whispered. "If you wish, I'll finish this battle so you can finally take your well-earned rest."

Sasuke was about to complain when he saw the blonde smile at him.

"You really should rest, Uchiha-san… you have awakened your family bloodline and I think that is enough," Sin stated softly. "But if you insist in this futile show of bravado, I shall comply. Just know that fighting at your state is detrimental."

Sasuke looked at Sin for a moment, somewhat surprised to hear he had unlocked his Sharingan, before stealing a glance at Haku, who stood still. The young Uchiha sighed. Maybe what Sin said was true…

"Whatever."

Sin smiled, and looked towards the Haku who seemed to steel himself, taking out a few more senbon needles. Sasuke, not knowing what to do, just stayed behind Sin, his back against his.

"Have you made up your mind, Haku-san?" Sin asked, as the mirrors around them shimmered, showing multiple images of Haku as well.

"I have..." the masked boy declared, sounding solemn. "I'm sorry."

"Me too, Haku-san," Sin replied easily. "Maybe... in the next life, we'll have better circumstances."

Without any warning, Haku launched his needles, and Sin just raised his hands. Both Zabuza's companion and the youngest Uchiha's eyes widened when they saw the needles stopping in mid-air.

"What...!?" Haku demanded, shocked. Gritting his teeth, he unleashed more and more volleys of needles, all of them stopping in mid-air.

Sasuke looked at Sin, his Sharingan flaring. He saw what Sin was doing... he was sending out odd traces of chakra from his whole boy, forming an almost invisible barrier around them. The needles would strike this barrier, only to stop mid-way.

Sin suddenly pulled his arm back, and pushed it back out again. All the needles stopped in the air suddenly shot outwards. Haku's eyes widened behind his mask. He was still in the open, and the needles suddenly shot at him. Desperately, he tried to enter the safety of one of his mirrors, only to get stabbed in the ankle by one of those needles.

It only took a second. Sasuke, even with his Sharingan couldn't see Sin move out suddenly, as if out for blood, and gave a solid kick towards one of the mirrors, the same mirror that Haku had retreated to. The crystalline structure cracked, giving way, and from the back of it, Haku was sent flying, his mask cracked at the force of the kick.

Sasuke could only stay silent, the mirror dome cracking into thousands of pieces, and sparkle as their dust blew off with the wind. Sin took time to look at his surroundings before slowly moving towards the prone figure ahead. Sasuke followed.

In front of them, Haku coughed, spitting out blood. The impact shook her to her very core, and he could hear the footsteps coming. The louder it sounded, the closer he was to his death. He sat up, and looked at Sin approaching, calm as he looked at Haku's bloodied face.

Sasuke stopped, not knowing how to react. Behind the mask was a beautiful face, even marred by blood. The young Uchiha wondered for a moment if the person was a girl...

"Kill me..." was all he said.

"And why would you ask that, Haku-san?" Sin replied.

"I... I have failed him... Zabuza-sama..." Haku whispered. "I... I am his tool. A tool that can't defend him anymore. A broken tool, facing off against a superior one, and shattered in the process."

He paused, his eyes dropping somewhat.

"Zabuza-sama has no need for a weak shinobi..." Haku smiled weakly. "You have taken my reason to live."

Sasuke didn't say anything, watching the interaction of the effeminate boy with dead eyes and Sin, who stared back coolly.

"If that is the extent of your determination, then yes, you are right," Sin replied. "You are a weak shinobi. In addition, if your statement is true, then yes, Zabuza-san has no need for you. However, you are wrong in one thing... I didn't take away your reason for living. You did that fine on your own."

"What do you mean by that!?" Haku demanded. Sasuke noticed a small fire lit behind those crystal orbs.

"You said once that you wouldn't leave Zabuza-san," Sin continued. "Was that a lie?"

"No!" Haku replied immediately.

"Then you shouldn't be asking me to kill you," Sin declared. "You should be looking behind you..."

Haku looked confused for a moment, and looked behind him. The scene froze his soul...

Zabuza was pinned down by a couple of dogs clamping on his legs and arms, while Kakashi was coming at him, the jounin's arm coated in electrical chakra, coming towards the missing-nin in full speed.

"Zabuza-sama!" Haku shouted, and as fast as his legs could carry him, jumped in-between Kakashi and Zabuza.

The missing-nin and the jounin's eyes went wide in surprise, but it was too late. Kakashi's Raikiri stabbed Haku at his right lung, the electricity cauterizing the wound.

* * *

Haku's vision faded, and everything he had been seeing for the past minute seemed like a dream. Instead, in front of him, he could see his old house, in the winter of those many nights, the image of his mother and father coming back at him. As he fell, he remembered the snowy day when he had killed his father, scared of his wits. The face of Zabuza came... and then, the boy he thought he killed.

"Satisfied?" Sin asked, looking at him, smiling slightly.

"Yes..." Haku replied, smiling back. "I have protected him... my... precious person. It is a better way to go... better than falling during battle."

The boy just nodded, before removing his sunglasses, and looked at Haku straight in the eye, making the teenager flinch a bit.

"Haku-san... you are about to be judged," Sin declared. "I see a boy of pure heart whose soul was ravaged by circumstances. I have decided..."

"D... decided what?"

"A small favor for your soul," Sin replied neutrally. "Make it as pure as your heart. Do you accept?"

Haku looked at the boy. He didn't know what to say. The whole thing confused him at best. Instead, he settled on just saying, "Just protect Zabuza-sama... I'll accept anything as long as you can keep him safe."

Sin smiled, maybe a more genuine smile this time.

"I cannot follow him and baby-sit him, Haku-san, but know this... as long as he stays in the village, no one will touch him."

The effeminate boy smiled, nodding with satisfaction.

* * *

"Sin... what are you doing?" Kakashi asked, looking over at Sin as he kneeled down on the fallen body of the dying teenaged boy, Haku, their eyes connecting for at least a minute. He was also holding back the injured Zabuza.

Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna were behind Kakashi, but quiet, yet curious. they too watched what Sin was doing. Zabuza himself was in a slight state of shock, though his expression was hidden well behind his covered face. He was curious though at what the boy Haku had claimed to kill, was doing.

Suddenly, a black magic circle appeared, placing Haku in its center. The teenaged boy himself suddenly changed, his body outline suddenly appearing beneath his clothes. Haku glowed white, except for a few parts, marred in blackness, like a sickening goop that stuck to the surface, and slowly, those blackened areas began to move towards the outline of the body, and getting sucked outwards, towards the magic circle.

Sin stood up, and began to chant in a language that no one present understood. Before anyone could react, he raised his hand, and the black goop suddenly jumped from the circle to his palm, forming a disgusting thick black liquid that threatened to spill from Sin's hands.

Sin's face steeled itself, and his eyes went wide, almost crazily as the boy in black put his hand near his lips, and began to suck it in completely.

Sakura screamed, while Sasuke paled. Kakashi and Zabuza flinched slightly at the scene as the goop launched itself to Sin's face, and slowly, diminished, sucked to his mouth completely. The wind suddenly picked up, the shouts of multiple people about to die were heard, and then, died down, leaving Sin on his knees, coughing what looked like blood.

"It is done…" he whispered softly, weakly.

"W-wha… what was that?" Sakura asked weakly.

"I purified Haku-san's soul…" Sin coughed again, wiping out the blood from his lips with the sleeve of his jacket. "Least I could do."

"Z-Zabuza-san…"

Everyone's eyes went to Haku, who raised his arm weakly. Zabuza, automatically, grabbed it, ignoring Kakashi who got his kunai out and ready.

"Please… live…" was all the effeminate boy said before he took his last breathe.

Zabuza held on to the boy's arm, even after this fingers slackened. The man didn't cry, no… he was a veteran ninja, hardened by years of experience, but it was safe to say he lost a part of him with Haku.

The whole scene tugged an emotional string in Sakura's heart, but before she or anyone else could react, the sound of someone clapping made its way through the bridge.

Sin stood up calmly, and put on his shades. He looked straight at the source of the sound. Zabuza, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura followed, and saw a short slimy looking man in a suit surrounded by thugs, all carrying various of weapons.

"Gatou…" Zabuza seethed.

"Good! Great!" the short man, Gatou, declared, smiling widely. "Kill each other off! Save me money!"

"What do you mean?" Zabuza asked, his eyes looking dangerous.

"Did you really think I'd pay you?" Gatou asked, looking smug. "Really. I was waiting until all of you killed each other, and the rest of my crew here will finish off the stragglers, but when you people stopped fighting for a moment, well… eh, no matter. You're all weak enough to finish off."

The Demon of the Mist looked deranged, his face twisted in rage. Haku had died because he followed him, and worked for the slime ball, and now that git had the gall to try to betray them?

"Kakashi… seems our fight is over," Zabuza whispered. "I have no reason to kill the old man now."

"So it seems," Kakashi stated, breathing somewhat heavily. He was almost out of chakra again.

"Leave this to me, Copy Cat…" Zabuza declared. "Just lend me a-"

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," Sin suddenly cut the man off, stepping forward, front and center of Team Seven and Zabuza.

"Don't interfere brat," the Demon of the Mist growled.

"Haku-san asked me to keep you alive," Sin replied easily. "At your condition, taking on a group of thugs is nothing but suicide. Or are you telling me you think Haku's sacrifice to keep you alive was baseless and useless?"

As if struck physically, Zabuza took a step back. Satisfied he made his point across, Sin took another step forward, ignoring the jeering and insults of the thugs who saw him coming.

"Are you Gatou?" Sin asked loudly.

"What is it to you, brat?" Gatou replied back.

"Just making sure…" Sin said.

"Making sure… what?" Gatou asked.

"That I'm killing the right person."

Gatou and his whole group froze. It wasn't because of the boy's reply… normally, they'd jeer more and laugh. It wasn't because of the cold tone of finality that was expressed. No… what got to them was how clearly the voice rang into their ears… and for good reason.

The reply came from behind Gatou.

The man turned around quickly, but a hand grabbed his face, holding him steady. Gatou began to sweat profusely.

"Wait…!"

"No words are needed for the wicked. What is enough, is Judgment. Death!"

For the second time, Sakura screamed, only because of fear and disgust as Sin's hands clamped down and squeezed. Blood spurted out as Sin easily pulled out the man's face, leaving nothing but a bloody spot. Gatou was unrecognizable, and definitely dead.

Everyone else took a step back, shock entering their system. Of all the things the thugs have seen to earn their place here, it was the first time they've seen anyone literally rip the face off another.

For a second, they stood there, and the shock finally settling in.

"Hey… you killed our meal ticket!" one of the thugs declared.

"You damn son of a bitch… you're dead!" another declared.

"All of you are dead! We'll pillage this village!"

"Don't you touch them!" a shout suddenly rang through the bridge. Everyone except Sin looked at the direction of shout… and they saw Inari leading armed villagers, all ready to fight.

"Took you long enough…" Sin muttered, looking at the kid.

"Hey, you took your time as well getting up, you know!" Inari replied back, grinning.

"You think we're scared of some villagers!?" a punk asked.

"Kage Bunshin…"

All of the thugs' eyes went towards Kakashi, who unleashed his technique, forming at least a hundred clones. Pretty impressive, Sin thought, for someone who was almost out of chakra.

"Want some of this?" one of Kakashi's clones asked, looking menacing. That was the last straw in the camel's back, as the thugs ran scared, jumping towards one of the near boats that was docked there. Others, in too much of a hurry, jumped towards the waters.

The villagers rejoiced, as they have successfully driven off the blight of their homes.

* * *

"Thank you…" Zabuza muttered towards Sin, who was now putting his finishing touches on the grave.

"My teacher once told me that the living should send off the dead," Sin said as he placed a necklace done with a few senbon needles with the stake, and stood beside Zabuza as they paid their respects.

The grave was done weeks ago, the date when Haku and Gatou had died. Zabuza insisted in making the grave, and the headstone was done using a wooden stake. Zabuza's parting gift was Haku's scarf.

It took a few minutes, but they stayed silent. Behind them was Team Seven, who were more concerned in leaving their temporary teammate with a dangerous fellow like Zabuza, but they too, out of respect, stayed quiet. In the end Sin spoke again.

"This is where we part ways," the boy declared, looking at Zabuza. "Hopefully… we'll meet once more, in better circumstances."

"Heh… I like you, kid," the man declared.

"What will you do?" Sin asked.

"I… I don't know," Zabuza replied, taking one last look at Haku's grave, and made sure his large sword was in place. "I'll find another client… maybe an honest one for a change."

"Take care… Demon of the Mist," Sin said, and along with Team Seven departed, in a different direction from where Zabuza was walking.

It wasn't a long walk before they finally came to the completed bridge. With the help of Team Seven, Kakashi's Kage Bunshins, and Sin's very impressive strength, the bridge was completed in a matter of weeks. Now… it was time to say good-bye.

"Hey… you… guys…" Inari sniffed. "You better… come visit."

Sasuke suppressed a smile. Part of him was proud that the kid grew out of his cry-baby mode, and it felt good. He just nodded solemnly, and turned around to walk.

"Inari… it's okay to cry," Sin declared softly, ruffling the boy's head, smiling.

"Why… don't you then!?" the boy demanded.

"Because I burned out my tear ducts…"

Everyone present looked at Sin oddly, before the boy smiled.

"Kidding."

And he too followed Sasuke, and walked away. Sakura just bowed, and Kakashi, his visible eye smiling, waved at them as he rejoined his team.

Inari cried freely, if not silently, watching them walk away. Tazuna looked solemnly at the ninjas he had hired, fooled and worked with to complete the bridge.

"They came knowing I lied to them… facing of an enemy so powerful they risked death…" the old man whispered softly. "This bridge wouldn't have stood if it wasn't for them. They gave us hope… and in turn, gave us courage."

"Lets name the bridge after them!" Inari declared.

Tazuna could only laugh.

"Yeah. How about… 'The Great Konoha Bridge'?"

**To Be Continued**

**

* * *

**

_Author's Notes: _

_Its been a while. I guess I owe people an explanation. The reason why this fic took too long to make was because I originally lost the first draft. Gathering a few of my contacts who I had asked to read this story beforehand, they were able to get me only part of the chapter. I filled out the rest. _

_Anyways, hope you enjoyed this one. Later! _


	7. Sin and Gaara of the Sand

**Sin Eater: Sin and Gaara of the Sand**

* * *

It was a few days since the almost disastrous mission at Wave Country. Hokage had been rather furious at a lot of things. One was Tazuna who had lied and broken the trust that had come with contractual jobs like these, and another was Kakashi, who should have shown better judgment, and should have at least asked more reinforcements. Moreover, he was angry with himself, for not noticing anything odd about Wave Country, which was relatively near the Hidden Village.

Gatou was a well-known name. Deriving a conclusion wasn't remotely mind stressing. The Hokage was meant as a leader, protector of its village and its people, yet he sent two untrained genin and a retired ANBU captain who hadn't been to any serious fights into battle an A-Class missing nin, who had an apprentice along with him.

The Hokage was glad he had sent Sin along with them. A lucky break, one would say. The boy was indeed powerful… a regret he'd have to keep peace with him, knowing he just let go an individual who could help protect the village, if only to protect the boy from hating the village completely.

"I'm very thankful," the Hokage declared towards Sin and his teacher, Undertaker, who sat in front of him in his office. "It would have been a disaster without you."

"I'm sure Team Seven would have gotten out just fine," Sin replied modestly. "Kakashi-san was able to subdue Zabuza-san in the end, and Sasuke-san was able to unlock his Sharingan and could have taken down the apprentice himself."

"Still," the Hokage interjected, "I am glad you went with them. I first thought it was to give them a pass at the Chuunin Exams, but you played a role in their survival. You have my deepest thanks, Sin."

Sin gave a somewhat small smile, maybe an honest one, but no one would know. He was used to getting thanks, and curses at the same time, something he learned to grow up with as an Order member with the ability to give peace or conflict to any dying man. However, this was the first time he was given thanks by an alive, albeit old, but still alive, man. And this time, it wasn't for doing his regular job.

"With this done, Team Seven has an A-Class Mission under its belt," the Hokage said. "That is more than enough to approve them entrance to the exam."

"I shall continue to join them in the exam as well," Sin declared.

"Thank you again, Sin."

"It's my job… Hokage-sama."

* * *

At another part of Konoha, the thriving Yamanaka Flower Shop was being managed by Ino, who was given a day off by their jounin-sensei. Being the only daughter of the family, when she didn't train, she would run the shop.

It was a slow day. Only a handful of people came in, some only looking around, and only one had bought flowers. So, it was a surprise when suddenly, walking in her store, was Ino's former best friend and number one rival for Sasuke's heart: Haruno Sakura.

"Hey, Forehead-girl," Ino began to tease. "What brings you here?"

"Hey… Ino…"

The declaration seemed to make the blonde girl stop her train of thoughts. That wasn't supposed to be the reply! Ino-pig, or Piglet, hell, the classically antique Miss Piggy would have been more appropriate, but just… Ino?

"Oi, what's wrong, Forehead?" the blonde declared. "Finally admitting my superiority and admitting your defeat?"

"No… it's just…" and Sakura sighed.

Ino then knew something was wrong.

"Hey… what's wrong Sakura?"

Sakura then told Ino everything… Sin, and the mission at Wave. It was probably the most interesting story Ino would hear for a while, to say the least.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke seethed as he launched multiple projectiles to the practice dummy he was using, his mind was on one thing… Sin's powers. The young boy was no older than him, yet he faced off with an A-Rank missing-nin so easily… and that masked boy, who he had so much trouble with, and won both bouts so easily!

Plus the fact he had died, and came back from the grave… Sasuke had checked the vitals! It was no death-induced state, but a completely lethal blow, and he showed up like it was nothing! He also remembered what he and Sakura were talking about… apparently, he can eat 'sins' and he wondered if that was the thing that is what is giving him his powers.

The youngest Uchiha paused on his training. He could ask Sin about it… he would gladly help him, right?

He'd find out later. Kakashi had called in another meeting, and Sin himself said he would be there. He'd ask him then.

* * *

Back at the Hokage's office, after Sin and Undertaker had left, the Third Hokage had called in all the jounin-senseis in the office. The Chuunin Exam was just around the corner, and the foreign ninjas were coming in droves. It was now or never…

"As you can recall, Konoha is now the host of this year's second Chuunin Exam," the old man Hokage declared. "Are there any of you who'd like to nominate your teams into the exam?"

The first one who stepped forward was a man in a bowl cut, wearing a green spandex body suit. He grinned so brightly his teeth sparkled, and raised arm to give a thumb's-up.

"I nominate Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji and Tenten, my youthful genins of Team Gai!" the man declared. The other jounins just groaned at the display, but the Hokage could only chuckle. Gai was entertaining, most of the time.

"I nominate Team Seven," Kakashi suddenly declared, turning the rather relaxed affair into an uproar. Umino Iruka, the scarred and relatively handsome Academy Instructor, ranked chuunin, was the first to get on the lazy jounin's case.

"What the hell are on, Kakashi?" Iruka demanded. "You can't nominate your team because--"

"Because my team is incomplete, or hasn't taken a C-Rank mission, yes?" Kakashi finished the sentence before the Chunnin did. "Well, I have to say, Iruka, you're a bit slow. My team is indeed now at full capacity. Hokage has provided us with a third teammate, and we have successfully completed a C-Rank mission. In fact… the mission itself was actually an A-Rank."

"Is that true, sir?" one of the jounins looked towards the Hokage, who just nodded.

"I have personally found a suitable member for Team Seven. He was actually an essential part in finishing the said mission," the Hokage declared.

Kakashi felt somewhat miffed. Essential? The boy was the one who single-handedly made it so that Team Seven would succeed in their ill-fated mission.

"I want to meet this third member of Team Seven then," Iruka declared. "I want to ensure my former students have someone trustworthy."

"Iruka, I appreciate the concern, but you're overstepping your boundaries a bit," Kakashi declared, looking at the chuunin. "Sin was hand-picked by the Hokage himself. Doubt on his choice means doubt on the Hokage himself."

"Hey, no need to go that far, Hatake!"

"True, but its still a valid point," Kakashi replied easily. "Plus, they aren't your students anymore. They are my soldiers."

Iruka backed away, somewhat embarrassed that Kakashi had blocked him so easily, but not deterred in wanting to meet the mysterious third member of the former two-cell Team Seven. In fact, he wasn't the only one… many other jounins had looked interested in meeting this so called… Sin? Yes, that was the name Kakashi had given.

Not to be outdone, Yuuhi Kurenai, an attractive jounin took a bold step forward as well.

"I nominate Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino of Team Eight to participate in the Chuunin Exam."

"Well, if that's how it goes, I too nominate Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji of Team Ten," Sarutobi Asuma, the jounin-sensei of Team Ten also went into the festive mood.

The whole room was in an uproar. Three rookie teams entering the exam? It was rather unheard of since before the last great Shinobi War! It took the Hokage's well placed slam on the table with his hand to calm things down.

"Quiet! All of you!" the old man Hokage declared, taking a deep breathe. He looked towards the three jounins and asked, "Are you sure of this?"

"Yes," all three replied easily.

"So be it."

* * *

The town was abuzz. Rumors spread quickly, and it was no surprise that the civilians were talking about it. Three rookie teams in this year's bi-annual Chuunin Exam? Team Seven, team of the great Uchiha Sasuke had a third member, and they have already have a B-rank mission under their belt? Speculations ran, all wondering how well their youngest surviving and loyal Uchiha performed, some stating he was the key factor in making the mission a success, but another party emerged… this time, curious about one thing...

The identity of the third member of Team Seven.

All of this, surprisingly, Haruno Sakura ignored. She just came out of a fight with her on-and-off friend, Ino. The pink-haired kunoichi had tried to explain her misgivings… her talk with Sin had raised a few doubts of her ability to be a ninja, and his words seemed sound. Sasuke had pointedly ignored her advances, only interested in training… so training herself to gain his respect was logical, right?

Then Ino suddenly attacked, like a savage dog, feeling confident her enemy had cornered herself. She called on Sakura, claiming she was weakening, giving up on Sasuke, their target of affection, and she wouldn't listen to reason. Sakura was left with no choice but to leave the shop before she exploded in her rage.

"Yappo!"

The greeting surprised her. Stopping on her tracks, she spotted Sin eating in a ramen stand, having a small smile on his face. On his left was a stack of bowls. Each bowl was large enough to have been a hearty meal, yet the stack indicated that Sin had been eating a meal for ten people.

"Where'd you put all that!?" she blurted out, and then, on reflex, caught herself. By then it was too late. Sin, though, didn't look offended, but his smile grew.

"I have fast metabolism!"

Sakura approached him, sitting down on the stool beside him. The owner, an old man was cooking the ramen, so a young woman came up to her instead, asking what she wanted.

"Um, no thanks… I'm on a diet," Sakura stated quietly.

"Eat up," Sin declared, nudging Sakura slightly. "You'll burn those calories when you train harder anyway."

Still in doubt, Sakura ordered a small bowl of Miso Ramen. To make sure, she said to make it a really small bowl. The young woman smiled, and gave the order to the owner, who apparently was her dad, and Sakura just waited for her food to come.

"I only eat once a day, but I must say, Ramen is great," Sin declared, grabbing one of the condiments, a bottle of chili powder, and to Sakura's shock and amazement, poured a whole lot on his bowl, which already looked red! She also spotted five similar bottles, with a few specks of red, empty!

"Wha!! How can you eat that stuff!?"

"Well… I can't exactly taste my food well, so I try to spice them up. It works," Sin shrugged.

"A whole bottle!?"

"Yeah… if Tsunami had this much chili, I'd prolly have eaten more of her food… maybe then she wouldn't have been that uncomfortable around me," the boy declared, looking in front of him busily. Sakura guessed he was looking back at the time they were at Wave, and then, she looked down.

"What is it?" Sin asked, seemingly reading her mood.

"Oh… it's…" her thoughts wavered towards herself in Wave Country. "… it's nothing."

"It's something, but I'm sure you'll figure it out," Sin declared, now going back to his red bowl of ramen. "My teacher once said… if you're unsure of yourself, keep fighting until you get your answer."

"Um… have you?" Sakura asked, looking quite nervous, knowing full well she was asking a personal question.

"Have I what, Sakura-san?"

"Doubted yourself?"

"Of course, multiple times!" Sin declared rather jovially, surprising the kunoichi. "Okay, not really…"

Sakura felt an urge to slam her fist on Sin's face. A really strong urge. Thankfully, her order came, and saved Sin from the wrath of her female teammate and the two ate in peace. Sin finished his bowl first, but waited for Sakura to be done with hers, which was only a few minutes afterwards. Paying their meals, the young woman of the stall told them politely and somewhat honestly for them to come back.

"I think I will," Sin replied courteously. The two stood up and left the stand, and the boy looked at the name of the stall before they left.

"Ichiraku Ramen, eh?" he whispered. "Nice place. I should go back there."

"Yeah… it was good," Sakura agreed, though she was beginning to count the calories, and pounds she would gain by eating her very small bowl of noodles. Before she could even imagine the ramifications, which included a Sakurazilla puffed like a balloon in her red dress stepping and destroying Konoha with her weight, a boy's shout caused her to break her train of thoughts.

"Hey! Let me go!" the boy's voice shouted.

"Stupid runt! That hurt!" another voice rang, an older one, male.

Rushing towards the area, Sakura was surprised to see foreign ninjas. A girl with sandy blonde hair cropped in four ponytails with a big fan on her back, and a boy covered completely in black garb, his hood pointed like ears and with facial marks on his face. He had a rather large bundle at his back.

Both had hourglass shaped forehead protectors, indicating they were from, if Sakura remembered from her Academy days, the Hidden Sand village of Wind Country.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sakura demanded, getting involved. It was suspicious enough that there were foreign ninjas around Konoha, they were also picking on a young civilian boy!

"I'm teaching this little punk a lesson!" the male Sand ninja declared.

"For a ninja… you're pretty immature…"

Sin's voice came from behind the Sand ninja, who gasped, surprised to suddenly find someone behind him, almost letting go of the boy he was holding up. Sakura felt a bit stiff to see her new teammate in action once more, doing the same trick he did to Gatou… she wondered if he was going to do that face pull.

She hoped not.

"How'd you get behind me!?" the young ninja demanded, and looked down, only slightly, less than a second even to pull a weapon out only for Sin to disappear once more. He looked around, and spotted that the boy he was holding was now a scarecrow.

"Hey, kid… you alright?" Sin asked, and the Sand ninja turned, and spotted him with the pink-haired ninja, and the kid. Sin was patting him on the head.

"Um… thanks… mister…" the boy replied slowly, if not shyly. Even he had no idea what had happened.

"Heh, don't call me mister… makes me sound old. I'm Sin…"

A soft thud was heard, and the Sand ninja who had been bullying the boy seemed took down the bundle he had been carrying on his back. The female Sand ninja looked a bit apprehensive.

"Wait, you're using Karasu!?" she demanded.

"Shut it Temari… I'm gonna teach these tree-huggers some respect!"

"Damn it, stop it Kankuro," the female Sand ninja, Temari declared. "We're supposed to keep a low cover. If Gaara hears this…"

"Don't worry… it'll all be over soon."

"Now, now," Sin stood up, his head turned somewhat, his blue cold eyes behind his shades now finally seen at the angle as he looked at the male Sand ninja. "You should just stop there, unless you want the Sand Village losing one of their ninjas because he bullied the Third Hokage's grandson."

"Hah… like that'll put me off, you creepy bastard!" Kanuro declared, but before he could even make a move, he was suddenly hit by a stone on top of his hooded head.

Up in the tree, Uchiha Sasuke looked down on the Sand ninjas, one of his hands playing a small stone.

"They just keep coming out eh?" Kankuro muttered, looking more excited.

"Damnit, Kankuro, stop it already!" Temari demanded.

"Leave," Sasuke declared in his steady voice, a voice which Sakura had fallen in love with.

"Uh… how about… no?" Kankuro replied, and his hands shot out. Sasuke looked ready to counterattack when another voice made itself known… right above the young Uchiha.

"Kankuro!"

The voice stopped the Sand ninja on his tracks, his face paling suddenly. Temari also looked nervous, while Sasuke looked above him, quite surprised to see another boy with red hair and a gourd on his back.

Kakashi was the only ninja so far that could sneak up behind him like that… plus he didn't like how the red-headed boy looked. The most peculiar thing about him was the 'love' symbol etched on his forehead, but it was the bags under his sickly green eyes that bothered him. It was as if the boy hadn't gone to sleep in a long while…

"G-Gaara!" Kankuro yelped slightly. "Look, they started it…"

"You're a disgrace to our village…" Gaara, the red-headed boy, muttered. His voice was soft, yet hard, and very deadly; something similar to Sin when he talked to his enemies, both Sakura and Sasuke would note. "Stop this nonsense, or I'll kill you."

Flinching, Kankuro took one last angry look at Sin, and probably wanted to look at Sasuke as well, but didn't because he didn't want Gaara, who was standing only slightly above the Uchiha, to get the wrong message. He stood down.

Gaara suddenly disappeared when a small sand tornado warped around his body, and reappeared with the other Sand ninjas, looking at Team Seven. Sasuke jumped down and joined Sakura, Sin and the boy, and stared down at the red-head, not intimidated by him.

"I'm sorry if my brother offended you," he stated, and then turned around. "Let's go…"

"Wait!" Sasuke declared, stopping the trio of Sand ninjas. "Tell me your name!"

"Who… me?" Temari asked, blushing slightly.

Sakura suddenly felt the urge to hit her too.

"No, not you!" Sasuke declared. Temari looked slightly hurt, but he ignored that. "The one with the gourd."

"Subaku no Gaara," the red-haired boy responded easily. "Yours?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Very well. You… the one in black?" Gaara asked again.

"You can call me… Sin," Sin replied easily, giving a neutral smile.

There was a slight pause, and Gaara's eyes then went towards them. He gave a slight demonic smile… "I want to fight you both."

Sakura had expected a fight… the announcement was like a declaration of war, but the three Sand ninjas just quietly left the area, making her wonder why they were here in the first place.

"You could have ran out after I got you down, you know," Sin said towards the boy, who stood there the whole time while the words were spoken.

"I just wanted to tell you my name's Konohomaru, not the Hokage's grandson!" the boy declared, and sped away, making Sin smirk at his antics.

"Cute…" he muttered, still smiling. He then looked towards where the Sand ninjas disappeared, his face going serious. "Well… it seems its finally starting."

"What is?" Sasuke asked, looking at the boy.

"Oh, you don't know?" Sin looked at both Sakura and Sasuke. "The Chuunin Exams. Konoha is hosting it this coming week."

"Chuunin Exams, eh?" the young Uchiha looked somewhat thoughtful. "Wonder if Kakashi's entering us."

Sakura didn't want to voice it, as she didn't want her crush to think she was weak, but she hoped not. What would she do if she met that creepy red-haired boy? She had imagined Sasuke would come to her rescue every time they would get into trouble, but Wave was an eye-opening experience, to say the least.

"If you want, Sasuke-san, I'll mentally convince Kakashi to enter us in the exam," Sin suddenly declared, making his two other teammates blink.

"Wha... excuse me?" Sakura asked. "You can do that?"

"Sure!" and Sin suddenly grunted, his face exaggerated as if he was trying to force something out.

Sakura was convinced it was another of his jokes. Sasuke rolled his eyes, wondering whether to stop the boy from acting silly… people were staring at them again.

* * *

"Sorry I'm late," Kakashi declared. "But I've entered you guys to the Chunnin Exams…"

Sakura and Sasuke suddenly stared at Sin who looked back at them innocently.

"What?" he asked.

Sakura suddenly blanched, whispering how the hell Sin had done that, while Sasuke looked torn between believing the whole thing was just a coincidence, or Sin had actually convinced Kakashi with some sort of mental message. Kakashi was the odd man out, not getting their references.

"Did… did I miss something?" the jounin asked.

"Nothing to worry about, Kakashi-san," Sin smiled. "Chunnin Exams, eh? Sounds fun."

"Well, here are you're Examination forms," Kakashi said, giving each of his students a piece of paper with instructions telling them to go towards the Konoha Academy at a certain time. "If you want to enter, show up. That's all."

With that, the man disappeared on them, leaving Team Seven to look at their newly acquired documents. Sakura was the most depressed, her confidence a bit ragged as she wondered if she was good enough to even enter the exam.

"Well, that was useless… calling us here for just one thing," Sin said neutrally. "I guess I'll see you both tomorrow, eh? Later."

The young Uchiha watched as Sin walked away from them. He still wanted to talk to the boy, but alone, mostly. Ignoring Sakura's somewhat repetitive request to go on a date (this time she disguised it with the word 'training' though he saw right through it), he slowly followed Sin in the direction where the boy was walking.

He was going to have a talk with the odd boy. He could be the instrument on giving him the power he needed to take vengeance.

**To Be Continued…**


	8. Team Gai

**Sin Eater : Team Gai**

* * *

In a somewhat isolated training area, Sin and Sasuke were alone, staring at each other. The wind blew, dancing slightly with their hair and the grass surrounding them. It was just a few minutes after Kakashi had given them their Exam Forms, and Sasuke had asked Sin to meet him to this location a few moments later.

"Thanks for meeting me..." Sasuke muttered neutrally.

"If you're confessing your love to me, let me just leave, and save us both the trouble..."

The raven-haired genin's eyes narrowed threateningly.

"No, actually. I wanted to ask you something..." Sasuke paused. "Where... do you get your strength? Is it from the sins you eat?"

Sin looked at the young Uchiha, smiling slightly. "You've been busy, thinking this up."

"Teach me to eat sins," Sasuke declared.

Sin shook his head. "Sorry, Sasuke-san... I can't."

"Why not?" the boy demanded.

"I'm the only one who can eat sins," Sin explained, shrugging. "No one in the Order have my abilities... its something unique to me."

Sasuke mentally cursed. Sin could have been lying, but the answer came so clear and naturally that he felt that the blonde didn't really lie. Plus, Sin was pretty open when it came to things about him, oddly an attitude that was refreshing considering Sasuke lived in a village of ninjas where everyone kept their secrets.

"However... I can give you the sins I have eaten," Sin suddenly declared, making Sasuke blink and look at him with surprise. "I'm pretty sure they will give you the power you want... but please note I'm not recommending it. It's far too dangerous for you to use sins as a means of powering up."

"I can handle it," Sasuke muttered.

"I doubt it, but if you insist..." Sin approached Sasuke, who looked slightly apprehensive, but stood his ground. "I need you to keep still Sasuke-san... it will hurt if you make any unnecessary movements."

"Just hurry..." Sasuke muttered, shivering slightly as he felt Sin's hands touched his back. They were unnaturally cold even with his shirt on.

For a moment, there was nothing, and then, the cold dreaded seemed to seep inside Sasuke. His whole body felt rigid… there was a sort of unexplained yet powerful energy coming from within him, but at the same time… pain.

Suddenly, visions came in, crimson, bleak, and then he would hear voices of the dying, screams of a woman being raped, children burning to death. He could smell blood, burnt flesh, the disgusting sex… but the worst part of it was his body spasm. As if he could feel the pain of the victims converge at him immediately, tearing his body and mind apart.

He could only scream, and moved away from Sin.

Once he broke contact with Sin's hand, the visions, smell and pain started to fade. Sasuke involuntarily shivered… he thought he had gotten it worse when his brother had mind-raped him, showing him how he had repeatedly killed the whole Uchiha Clan, but what Sin just did was possibly worst. Even when all the things he had experienced had begun to disappear, there was a small part of his head remembering it on vivid detail.

"I did warn you," Sin's voice cut through the fog of the Uchiha's mind.

"What the hell was that!?"

"Sin isn't exactly a safe form of energy…" Sin replied quietly. "What you felt are the effects of wielding power."

"Bullshit!" Sasuke growled. "You don't look like you're suffering!"

"Considering I have been holding sins of countless of people for more than the better part of eight years…" Sin smiled slightly, "I think I have adopted well."

Sasuke seemed to pause, looking at the blonde boy. "So, you're saying I can get used to the sensations?"

"If you're lucky," Sin replied easily, "and I do mean very lucky."

"If I'm not?"

"You'll die the most exquisitely painful death, your soul and body ripped apart," Sin paused, and looked at Sasuke. "I like you, Sasuke-san… and I have no real intent of watching you suffer. I'd rather have you forget about the whole thing… sins aren't a power that is right for you."

"I'm an avenger. I have to avenge my family!" the raven-haired boy glared at the blonde. "Are you like the others, telling me that vengeance isn't the right path for me to take and what not?"

"Of course not," Sin smiled a bit. "It's good to have goals. However, Sasuke-san… if you look too far ahead in the future, you will lose sight of the present. Right now… it shouldn't be your brother that you should be looking towards to."

"And what should I be looking towards to?" Sasuke demanded.

"The Chuunin Exams…" the blonde simply replied. "Test your mettle and skills. If any are lacking, train even harder. I promise you, as long as you strive forward, training and fighting as hard as you can, your brother will not stand a chance against you. If you look too far, trying to catch up to your brother, you'll fall before you can even reach him."

Sasuke looked at Sin, his face honest and open, neutral to even his own little outbursts. He felt ashamed… he had raised his voice during their conversation, his stubbornness reigning as he felt one of his options of getting stronger faded from his eyes… yet Sin himself was just calm, letting Sasuke's temper blow around him, replying and giving some advice that even the young Uchiha felt hard-pressed to counter.

"Hn…" Sasuke muttered, and turned his back on the blonde. Maybe Sin was right… maybe Sasuke was too much of a hurry. His brother would fall by his hand. He was sure of it. "I'll see you tomorrow…"

Sin watched with a slight smile as he felt he got through to the boy. Whether he would take the advice to heart is something for the future, but for now, the pressing matters were now resolved. The wind shifted, and a figure behind Sin made itself known. Sin didn't worry… he knew who it was.

"I take it went well," the Undertaker stated neutrally.

"Yes… would be a shame if Konoha loses their last Uchiha because of his power-hungry ways," the blonde replied.

"Still, I haven't expected you to tell him the truth about sins…"

"Considering I haven't lied until now, I don't see the problem of keeping him informed. I do like the boy. I felt it would be wise to tell him the fact that giving sins to him would ultimately destroy him," the blonde looked at his teacher. "I am glad he decided not to take this route."

"Would you have continued to feed sins to him if he asked? Would you have let him destroy himself?"

"Of course," Sin smiled. "He'd deserve what awaited him if he insisted on it."

"Hmph… some friend you are," the Undertaker said, a teasing tone coming out.

"Heh… I don't like him that much, you know."

* * *

The next morning came. Team Seven, or at least two of its members, Sasuke and Sakura waited outside the academy, waiting for their third member to arrive.

Sasuke looked somewhat in a better mood, Sakura noticed. He still looked unemotional, but this time, he had an aura of contemplation around him, as if he was in deep thought. Sakura thought he looked cute, in an odd way. Yeah, sure, his cold devil-may-care and I-am-an-avenger-so-don't-bother-me aura was what got the boy into the dreams of most girls in his class, but seeing him like this made Sakura's heart flutter, though she did her best not to show it.

She wondered what Sasuke was thinking about.

What the raven-haired youth was wondering about was why Sakura hadn't pestered him on a date, or tried to invade his personal space. Whatever it was, he wanted it to continue… a morning without Sakura going at him was a morning that he would most definitely enjoy, putting him in a better mood.

"Yappo!" Sin greeted cheerily, appearing finally and walking towards his team.

"Hn," Sasuke greeted, short on words though he did acknowledge Sin's presence.

"Morning Sin," Sakura greeted as well.

"I'm not late am I?" the blonde asked.

"Hmph, as long as you aren't as late as Kakashi… it's fine," Sasuke replied. "Lets go."

"Yes, captain!" Sin saluted mockingly, making Sakura giggle while Sasuke growled softly as he led the group inside the academy.

It was a modest building, large enough to hold hundreds of students of different levels. It was near the Hokage Tower, something Sin noticed as a very risky move. The Hokage Tower held most of the ANBU, and with the Academy nearby, they could easily prevent any threat that would come in contact with the students… but at the same time, the Academy was a bit too near towards the Tower that if anyone attacked the area, the Academy would have been affected too.

Sakura noticed Sin studying the Academy grounds, and began to tidbits about the building as if she was giving him a tour.

"This is where it all started," the pink-haired kunoichi said. "First floor is for the Beginners, second floor is for the Advanced and Graduating Classes… though there are three floors in total."

"Yes, I see," Sin nodded. "Did you enjoy your years in the academy, Sakura-san?"

"Um… it was okay… I guess," Sakura looked down, remembering her early years. Being a first generation kunoichi of her family she was a butt of many jokes, especially concerning her rather large forehead. She would have hated the program if it wasn't for Ino, her former best friend, a heir of a ninja clan who, with her help, stopped the bullies from ever hurting her again.

For one year, the blonde and pink-haired kunoichi were stuck together like glue… then came their rivalry in ninja arts and love, their target, Sasuke. Sakura had a blank look on her face, something Sin read easily.

"That many memories, eh?" the blonde boy asked pleasantly.

"I… I guess…" Sakura conceded. "Anyways, what room were we all supposed to meet?"

"Three-Oh-One."

"Oh… like that room that people are crowding on eh?" Sin pointed out.

It was true. Sasuke, Sakura and Sin have arrived at a long hall, with various of ninja teams of different countries cropping around a room that had the number '301' posted on the top of its frame. Near the door, two genins, a female wearing Chinese style clothing with her hair done in buns and a male with a rather comical bowl cut, weird eyes and even weirder green full-body outfit were on their buttocks, scuffled a bit.

They both had the Hidden Leaf insignia.

"Hey, why won't you let us in?" the female asked towards one of the older ninja in front of them.

"Hmph… I'm doing you a favor," the older ninja declared. "Weaklings like you shouldn't consider entering the exam. You'd die."

"At least let us try our mettle!" the green-wearing genin said as he stood up, only to be punched.

"Why bother?" the ninja's partner, the one who punched the genin sneered. "You're obviously too weak."

Sin smiled as he saw Sasuke suddenly enter the fray along with him and Sakura. It's always nice to enter the festivities, plus it felt good to not be on the spotlight for once. Sasuke was good at getting the attention he wants.

"They may be too weak, but we're going to pass through," the raven-haired genin declared coldly. "Plus, get rid of that genjutsu.."

Some of the genins around them gasped slightly. Were they held up by something as cheap as a genjutsu?

"Heh… so you've seen through it?"

"Hn. Who'd actually believe room 301 would be on the second floor?" Sasuke smirked. It was the very same smirk he'd practice everyday, the ones that drove his fangirls wild (not that he wants to… really… maybe…). He then pointed towards Sakura with his thumb, "Sakura and Sin here caught on to it easily. Right?"

"Of course," the pink-haired kunoichi readily replied, blushing slightly as she was commended by her crush. Moreover, some of the boys were staring at her, especially the weird genin who was wearing a green spandex.

"Affirmative, oh fearless leader," Sin replied as well, making Sasuke inwardly cringe. He didn't know if the blonde was being serious.

"Well, as impressive as that is, let's see of you're actually strong enough to pass through us," the older ninja declared, and suddenly attacked. Sasuke though wasn't caught off guard, and put an attack on his own.

It was over in a flash. Both attacks met in the middle, only to be stopped by the green-wearing genin, surprising both the older ninja and Sasuke.

"Oi, what are you doing?" the kunoichi in the Chinese Dress demanded, looking at the boy.

Another genin appeared, his white eyes indicating that he was from the Hyuuga clan, looked at the genin wearing green and shook his head. "Wasn't it your idea to not draw attention to ourselves?"

"Sorry…" the genin replied. Sakura and Sasuke noticed then that his injuries and the girl's injuries vanished, though the boy seemed to be blushing slightly.

"Oh no…" the kunoichi sighed.

Without a word, the green-fitted boy suddenly walked past the raven-haired Uchiha and looked at Sakura who just stared at the boy intently. The boy just gave her a thumbs up, and smiled, his pearly-whites, sparkling incredibly, as he stated in a steady voice, "I'm Rock Lee! Go out with me, I'll protect you 'till I die!"

"… no…" Sakura muttered. "You're… lame."

Sin snorted as the boy, Lee sighed, rejected. It wasn't as the blonde had a mean streak, but the way the genin was rejected was something that should be written for the future generations to know.

Meanwhile, the Hyuuga approached Sasuke, his eyes challenging.

"Hey, you," he asked. "What's your name?"

Sasuke didn't know how to react. He had been surprised at first, the green-fitted boy stopping two attacks without flinching, only to be shot down by Sakura after his own silly declaration of love, and now a Hyuuga genin was asking for his name.

He played it cool.

"When you want to learn someone's name, you have to give yours first."

"You're a rookie right?" the Hyuuga continued to ask. "How old are you?"

"I don't have to answer to you…" Sasuke responded.

"Heh… sorry Hyuuga-san, looks like you too were rejected," Sin suddenly declared, making everyone look at him as he approached Sasuke and the Hyuuga genin. "If you have to know… we're Team Rejection."

"Huh?" both Sasuke and Hyuuga whispered.

"The pink-haired beauty has rejected many advances on her," Sin pointed at Sakura who looked slightly taken aback as the blonde pointed towards Sasuke. "This guy rejected said girl on her advances to him. I myself rejected his own advancements…"

Sasuke looked flustered and mad. What the hell was Sin going on about?

"And now… he rejected your own advances… sorry, Hyuuga, but we're pretty much unattainable," Sin continued, ignoring Sakura's, the Hyuuga's and Sasuke's embarrassed expressions while the other genins around them seemed to snicker.

"You…" the Hyuuga looked he was about ready to explode when Sin poured more gasoline in the fire.

"I'm sorry, Hyuuga-san… you're cute, but you're not my type," Sin suddenly declared. "Its not you. I love someone else."

Someone around them dared to laugh aloud, making the Hyuuga stare at the direction of the laugh. It died immediately. Before the white-eyed boy could exclaim his outrage at the blonde boy, he noticed that he, the raven-haired Uchiha and their kunoichi teammate disappeared.

He only growled, and glared at the girl in the Chinese dress as she giggled uncontrollably.

* * *

"Well that went pretty well," Sin smirked slightly, walking ahead of Sasuke and Sakura, who both looked steamed.

"Team Rejection?" Sasuke growled.

"I don't get shot down! Sasuke-kun's just… shy!" Sakura half-shouted.

"I wasn't asking you out yesterday damnit!" Sasuke growled even louder. "And that Hyuuga wasn't asking me out!"

Sin looked back at them, and smiled widely. "Oh calm down. I'm just messing with their heads. If a person is distracted, they easily lose their way. It is a ploy! Make it easier for us to get through the exam."

"You didn't have to embarrass us along with it," Sakura complained.

"Or at least be fair about it," Sasuke said. "Say something embarrassing about yourself."

"Oh… right, right!" Sin nodded. "I'll tell everyone my most embarrassing secret next… like me being a ten-incher."

Sakura blushed and along with Sasuke, looked at each other… that was supposed to be embarrassing?

"Hey, you! With the dark hair!" a voice exclaimed from above. Team Seven looked at the source of the voice, and spotted Lee looking down at them. He jumped from the rafters, landing cleanly in front of them.

"I'm Rock Lee."

"I'm a ten-incher," Sin suddenly declared, making the three genin almost fall flat on their faces.

"Uh… yes… thanks," Lee commented. The blonde seemed idiotic so he ignored him and just stared back at Sasuke. "As you have said earlier, when you want to learn someone's name, offer yours first, right, Uchiha-san?" Lee asked, going into a ready stance.

Sasuke looked at the boy, and he too went to a ready stance. "So you know."

"Yup… he knows about my embarrassing secret of being a…"

Sakura covered Sin's mouth with her hand, twitching slightly. "That's enough! It's not even close to embarrassing!"

"Really? I'm two inches off a foot…" Sin replied, moving his head away from her grip.

Rock Lee just chose to ignore the blonde even further. "I have come to test myself against a genius of a ninja clan."

"You're a fool," Sasuke replied.

A few moments later, Sasuke and Lee would face off. The young genius Uchiha would then get his butt kicked.

* * *

Sasuke thought the fight would have been over in five minutes, but the boy just outmaneuvered him, hitting him cleanly. His speed and strength wasn't what Sasuke had expected out of a genin. Thinking he was using some sort of ninjutsu or genjutsu, he used his Sharingan, only for him to be even more badly beaten.

It was then when the boy, Lee, explained one of the most glaring weakness of the Sharingan. Faced against pure taijutsu, which Lee used, Sasuke's body wasn't fast enough to react against his attacks.

He thought he was going to suffer more, having been peculiarly suspended in the air, open to all attack when a turtle had come in, and saved his sorry hide. He just fell on the ground safely, curious to see what was going on.

An adult copy of Lee… with the same bowl-cut hair and same green tight fitting spandex came to view. He wore a jounin vest, and his eyebrows were, if possible, were even bigger. Sakura looked like she didn't know whether she was watching a tragedy or a comedy, and Sasuke seemed to have finally fried his brain, especially when the adult copy of Lee just hit the boy squarely in the cheeks so strongly he flew a few feet.

"LEE, YOU FOOL!"

"G-Gai-sensei…" Lee whimpered, clutching his cheeks, his eyes crying.

"Using a Forbidden Technique on a fellow Leaf…!" the adult, Gai, also seemed to be crying.

"I'm sorry, Gai-sensei!"

"It's okay Lee! It's all part of Youth!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

And they both hugged.

"Wow… guess you're gonna have to just reject his advances too…" Sin said pleasantly as he watched Sasuke rub his cheek once more. There wasn't much bruising, but it was his ego that took more damage.

"Sin…" Sakura began to mumble threateningly. No matter how powerful the blonde was, no one made snide remarks against Sasuke when she was around.

Sasuke ignored them, seething somewhat. He lost against these morons?

"Lee… Youth and Mistakes come together, but you still must be punished!" Gai declared, letting go of his student. "It will take place after Chuunin exams!"

"Yes, sensei!" Lee replied, still crying.

"Five hundred laps around Konoha!" Gai declared.

"Yosh! If I can't do it, I'll do the round with my hands!"

Noticing the gawks of two of Kakashi's students, Gai looked at them with a slight smile. Using slight chakra, he suddenly moved up behind them, only to notice the blonde seemingly follow his movements with his eyes.

_So… this is the third genin in Kakashi's team… _Gai thought. He was impressed. The boy was somehow hiding himself from plain view, putting a weak front so that he would be overlooked, but the experienced jounin knew otherwise. _Lee should watch out for this one._

Sakura and Sasuke blinked, not knowing where the jounin disappeared to, and were taken aback when they felt him behind them.

"So you are the adorable students of my rival, Kakashi!" Gai declared. He smiled at them, and like Lee, his teeth glistened with the light.

"You… you know our sensei?" Sakura asked, stepping away from the weird jounin.

"Of course!" Gai gave them a thumbs-up. "We're even referred as Eternal Rivals! Our record of our battles is fifty wins, forty-nine losses on my favor." Gai grinned again. "I'm stronger than Kakashi."

"Gai-sensei is incredible!" Lee declared.

Sasuke was in turmoil. He half believed the words that Gai spoke, and he shivered slightly. He then looked at Lee, who was now covering his arms with the bandage he had loosened been loosened earlier in the fight, and noticed his arms were callused.

"You kids should get to the classroom," Gai then stole a look towards Lee. "Good luck Lee."

The jounin disappeared, leaving the four genins. Lee finally tied the bandage around his fist, and looked towards Sasuke.

"Let us finish this in the exams, Sasuke-kun," Lee declared. "Though… its not only me you should watch out for. My teammate, Hyuuga Neji, is much stronger than me. I want to defeat him… and you are also someone I want to defeat. Be prepared for the exams!"

Giving them one last salute, Lee jumped up, and disappeared leaving Team Seven alone.

"Well… Sasuke-san… that was your worst match-up," Sin declared rather seriously.

"Sin!"

"Though I'm glad that this Lee appeared before you," Sin continued, ignoring Sakura's protests. "What I have told you yesterday was no lie. I know you noticed his hands. The boy most probably trained harder than you ever did."

"Che…" Sasuke growled, though he was smiling. Gone was the bitterness of loss, only for excitement to replace it. The Chuunin Exams were important, but it was already the first day, and he was beginning to feel the same way he had felt when Zabuza and his apprentice appeared before them in the bridge.

Anticipation.

"This Exam is getting more fun…" Sasuke muttered seriously. "Let's go… Sin, Sakura."

Sakura nodded, happy that her crush was cheered up, while Sin had his silly smile in his face once more. Team Seven began once more on their trek to Room 301, where they were surprised to meet Kakashi, looking at them.

"Seems everyone's present. Good," he nodded. "Go in. You don't want to be late now…"

Sakura and Sasuke nodded, and were the first to enter the room. Sin looked at Kakashi, and the jounin looked back at him.

"Sin, please take care of them," the jounin requested.

"They'll be safe. On my life," was the blonde's only reply before he too entered the room.

_**To Be Continued… **_

* * *

_Author's Notes: _

_Well, that's that. Some people may be happy to know I have been looking over my old stories, and decided to update them. I don't know about the Project Series though, but EVA: Heart of a Warrior was something I wished to update. Anyways, later! _


	9. Chuunin Exams Begins

**Sin Eater: Chuunin Exams Begins**

* * *

The room of 301, the room where the first stage of the Chuunin Exams would take place, opened, revealing Team Seven. The first thing Sasuke and Sakura had spotted was what seemingly was a hundred eyes looking at them at once. The Uchiha just stared back impassively, while Sakura had to swallow the lump that was found at her throat.

Sin had followed later, after he shared small talk with Kakashi outside, and looked towards the eyes looking at him. He gave them a wide grin, and waved his arms.

"Yappo!" he greeted loudly, rather moronically if one was honest.

Sasuke flinched somewhat, his body shaking slightly with anger. Sin had somehow antagonized everyone with one simple word as their stares just increased in intensity. Luckily, he found the perfect distraction. A certain blonde kunoichi coming at him at full speed, glomping him like a drowning man was gasping for oxygen.

"SASUKE-KUN!" the kunoichi greeted. "You made it!"

Sakura looked incensed. "INO-PIG!" and she approached the blonde and Sasuke, and forcibly separated them. "Stop bothering Sasuke!"

"Hah! Like I'd do anything you say, Forehead-girl!" Ino declared.

"Troublesome…" stated a boy with a lazy look as he approached. Along with him was a rather chubby boy, who was eating a bag of potato chips. "I guess all rookie teams entered eh?"

"All?" Sasuke looked towards the lazy-looking boy.

"Hehe… the great Uchiha graces our presence," another boy approached. He was hooded, and had peculiar facial marks. Under his hood, there was a small dog looking out. Behind him, a cute looking kunoichi with pale eyes and dark hair, her form covered in a jacket, and to complete the team, another boy with spiky hair, dark shades, and high-collared jacket joined.

"Shut up, Inuzuka," Sasuke stated with a smirk. "You are going to stink the air with your breathe."

"You ass…!"

"Kiba-kun, please," the girl with pale-eyes held the boy's hand. "Lets not fight… please?"

The Inuzuka boy, Kiba, looked at his teammate, and took a deep breathe. "Alright, Hina-chan… for you."

"Hn," Sasuke smiled. "Didn't know you got neutered by a Hyuuga, Inuzuka."

"Say what you want, you cocky bastard," Kiba declared, smirking. "I'm going to wipe that smirk of your face in the exams."

"Don't threaten Sasuke-kun!" Ino declared, looking scathingly at Kiba.

"Heh… knew you'd behind a woman," Kiba sniffed, and looked at Sin. "This is your third teammate?"

"Yappo," Sin greeted. "I'm a ten-incher."

Sasuke almost planted his face to the ground. Almost. Sakura wasn't so lucky, crashing and burning on the floor while the Rookie genins looked at each other, confused.

"Sin… it wasn't funny before," Sakura declared as she stood up. "It's not funny even now!"

"Sin, eh?" the lazy-looking boy studied the new boy. "More competition. Troublesome."

"Goth weirdo…" Ino muttered after she looked at him from head to toe. "Is Sasuke-kun always surrounded with weirdoes?"

Her question was ignored, and Sin, in favor of replying to her looked towards the lazy looking boy.

"Hi, I'm Sin."

"Shikamaru Nara," the boy replied. "The guy beside me is Choji Akimichi."

"I assume you are the brains of the operation," Sin declared, smiling with respect towards the boy. He looked at the big kid beside Shikimaru, and nodded at Choji. "I am guessing you're the muscle… and…" he turned and looked at Ino, "…and you're the damsel in distress."

Ino was taken aback, insulted. "No! I'm the leader of this lazy ass team!" she replied.

"Oh… if not damsel in distress… the Slut?" Sin asked, looking up slightly, a hand under his chin, as if thinking of something.

"WHAT!?" she shouted.

"Well, the Brains and Muscle is a very classical theme when it comes to teams," Sin replied easily. "If you're going to add a female to the mix, she'd either be an annoying no-talent woman who would get in the way of everything, hence the 'damsel in distress' or she's putting out to the two other boys, hence the title 'Slut'."

Kiba was howling in boisterous laughter. Shikamaru looked ready to burst, but seemed afraid how Ino would react, while Choji was stuffing his mouth with the bag of potato chips, his laughter unmistakable. The Hyuuga girl blushed, while the boy in dark shades just kept quiet, raising only an eyebrow. Sasuke smiled a bit, while Sakura was lapping it appreciatively, laughing almost as loud as Kiba.

"You… you rude…!" Ino stuttered, though Sin took her insults to stride.

"Forgive me, Blondie, but let's be fair," he smirked a bit. "You started it first."

"I like this guy!" Kiba declared, smiling towards Sin warmly. "I'm Kiba Inuzuka. The cutey behind me is my girlfriend, Hinata Hyuuga."

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata flushed really red.

"And my silent friend there is Shino Aburame," Kiba finished.

"Pleasure," Sin stated. He then looked at Hinata, and looked at her solemnly. "If you were the one who asked me out instead of the other Hyuuga, I might have accepted."

Her face was now resembling a tomato.

"Hey, hey!" Kiba raised a threatening fist. "Hands off!"

"No worries, Kiba-san," Sin smiled. "It was meant as a compliment. Nothing more."

"Oh…" that calmed Kiba down, though by now, Hinata had a question of her own. She wasn't aware of any other female Hyuuga in the exams.

"Um… excuse me, Sin-san… other Hyuuga?" she asked, confused (and still blushing). "What other Hyuuga?"

"An older Hyuuga, a boy, with silky long hair, nimble body-type," Sin stated.

"Cousin… Neji…!?" Hinata blinked, shock entering her system.

"Ah, Neji was his name eh?" Sin then declared rather loudly… loud enough to be heard by the older genins around them. "I shall apologize to Neji-sempai then. I hope my rejection wouldn't wound his heart too deeply! I am sure he will find the warm affections of someone else more worthy. He was so forward earlier! But ultimately, he wasn't my type."

A few meters away, Neji Hyuuga looked ready to kill someone. Lee was blinking, stepping a bit father away from the Hyuuga, while Tenten just giggled appreciatively, ignoring Neji's death glares.

"I… I didn't know…" Hinata gasped. Who'd have know Neji swung that way.

"Explains why he has such long hair," Kiba seemed to nod. "And why he's always is mean to you."

"That doesn't make sense," Shino replied softly. It was the first time he had spoken since Team Seven entered.

"Of course it does," Kiba smiled confidently. "Who can resist my animal charm?"

"Don't make me laugh," Neji declared, finally having enough. His killer intent spiked as he walked towards the Rookie genins, murder in his eyes. The older genin cleared the way, and following behind him, Lee and Tenten followed, the boy looking slightly apprehensive, while the girl just looked like she was trying to stop laughing.

"Cousin Neji…" Hinata gasped slightly. She placed herself further behind Kiba, who just protectively covered her.

"Even if I was interested in boys," Neji glared at Sin and Kiba, his voice filled with rage, "I wouldn't ask you out, you mutt."

Before Kiba could even reply, Sin beat him to it.

"Neji-san… please don't make this as difficult as it is," the blonde replied with a good amount of mock sorrow. "There will be someone waiting for your love. All you have to search… I see a strong boy behind you who I feel is your better match."

Lee shook his head quickly, waving his hands, not wanting to be involved. Tenten just guffawed along with Kiba, who was really starting to enjoy this.

"I'm going to kill you!" Neji declared, his eyes suddenly seemingly popping out, veins on its sides bulging, indicating he had activated his byakugan, the eye Bloodline Limit of the Hyuuga clan.

The rookie teams seemed to tense, expecting an attack. Sin just seemed to smile towards Neji rather calmly, incensing the boy even further. He was going to strike… really, when another genin, a much older one than any of them approached them. He had silver hair, and wore glasses, looking at them friendlily.

"Would you guys quiet down?" he stated. "You're causing a ruckus… and everyone here's already tense already. Hearing a bunch of rookies balking about like they are in a picnic is really annoying."

"What is it to you, huh?" Kiba asked aggressively.

"Hey, hey, no need for that," the older genin seemed to laugh. "I'm your friend here. My name's Kabuto. I'm a Leaf Genin like you."

All the rookies and Team Gai looked at the older boy's forehead protector. True enough, it had the Leaf insignia, indicating he was from the village. It didn't help much for Kiba though, as he regarded the boy with suspicion. He wasn't the only one though… almost everyone else, except Sakura, seemed wary of him. The pink haired kunoichi was friendlier towards her sempai, though.

"Nice to meet you, Kabuto-san," Sakura smiled a bit. "Is this your second time to take the exam?"

"Actually… my seventh."

Sasuke snorted audibly. Sakura blushed, but said nothing.

"Wow. That means you're quite experienced," she declared with a healthy amount of disbelief. She may have been acting nice, but… seriously. Seven times?

"Or quite useless," Kiba quipped, earning a gentle elbow from Hinata.

"Kiba-kun…"

"Sorry, Hina-chan…"

Kabuto didn't seem to mind, or even hear the insult from the Inuzuka. Instead, he took out a deck of cards from his pocket, and showed it the group. "Actually, I am quite experienced in the exams. What you see here are nin-info cards gathered from four years of experience."

"Nin-info cards?" Sakura asked, interested.

"Cards that I have used chakra to burn information on," Kabuto replied. "Of course, they can't be read without my chakra. Each card has information on specific places, people or groups."

Sasuke and Neji suddenly looked interested. Looking at the older genin, Sasuke spoke first, beating Neji to it.

"I need information on a genin of the Hidden Sand named Gaara," Sasuke declared. "And… Rock Lee from the Hidden Leaf."

"Oh, you know their names…" Kabuto looked somewhat disappointed, though his hands were shuffling through his deck. "A bit of a letdown… here we go. Gaara of the Desert. Not much is known about his abilities, though he has accomplished quite a lot of missions, even having a few A Ranks under his belt. Interesting tidbit… he always returns without a scratch.

"And Rock Lee… second year genin… nice amount of missions," Kabuto continued, with Lee looking over the man's shoulder, looking at his own data. "Insignificant talents when it comes to ninjutsu, or genjutsu… but it seems his taijutsu levels are pretty high."

"The fruits of hard work!" Lee declared, forming a fist, posing.

"Um… yeah… sure," Kabuto replied, somewhat surprised when Lee spoke up from behind him.

Sasuke nodded, satisfied, leaving the older Hyuuga to finally demand information of a pest had the unpleasantness of meeting.

"Sin," Neji declared.

"Sin… huh…" Kabuto looked solemn. Flipping his cards, he reached one of them out of his deck, and revealed it. It was a complete blank card, from what he could see. The only thing he had was a picture, staring back at him rather dangerously. "Well… I don't have much. All I have is recent history. Joined Team Seven as a means to finally complete the Three Man Cell after the Hokage and the Council had given the yet incomplete team special considerations…"

"Special considerations my ass…" Kiba snorted. "They just don't want to piss their Uchiha off, considering what happened to the other."

If Sasuke's glare could kill, Kiba would have been castrated, hanged, quartered, and burned to ashes. Only Ino and Sakura seemed to care (as Kiba just insulted their crush), others just looked at Kabuto as he was reading more info about Sin.

"Has one A Rank mission under his belt… very impressive," Kabuto nodded with a bit of admiration. "Unknown about his abilities…"

"I can help there," Sin declared with a slight smile.

"Really?" Kabuto raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that… generous of you?"

"Idiot…" Neji snorted. "What kind of ninja gives himself away?"

"Considering how well Kabuto-san has pegged Lee-san and Gaara-san, my keeping quiet will probably just delay the inevitable," Sin friendlily then poked his elbow towards the older genin. "We can assume this guy's good at gathering information. Like a spy. A very good one too. Hey, who knows… maybe he's actually an enemy spy of the Leaf, right?"

"Uh… right… haha…" Kabuto tried to reply easily, but his face was somewhat pale, his nape sweating slightly. He was lucky Neji wasn't even looking at him (it would have given him away), as the Hyuuga was just glaring at the blonde boy.

"Well… first thing you have to know about me Kabuto-san… are my power-levels…" and Sin paused.

"Power-levels?" the silver-haired man asked.

"Yes. It's over nine-thousand!"

There was a pause. Everyone then looked towards Sin when he spoke the words, confusion in their faces.

"Over… nine-thousand?" Kabuto was the one who recovered first. "Nine-thousand what?"

"Units, I am guessing," Sin shrugged.

"What kind of units?" Kabuto asked. When the blonde just shrugged, he just dropped it. "Oh fine. What's the highest numerical of that said unit? Ten-thousand?"

"Infinity," Sin replied. "No, wait… infinity plus one. Yup."

Kabuto's jaw slackened a bit, but quickly recovered. "Uh… maybe I've been asking it the wrong way. Could you… um, please translate your power levels to this diagram?"

The silver-haired boy handed Sin the card that had his information, who received it readily. Handing him a pen, he instructed the blonde boy to mark the diagram, rating himself from five levels, zero being the lowest, and five being the highest. Sin immediately understood, and began to hum a tune as he began to put dots around his diagram.

"Whoa…" Kabuto whispered as he saw Sin judged himself as a level one in ninjutsu, two in genjutsu, four in taijutsu, four as well in his skills using tools, and put a modest three in the bloodline capacity. "A bit modest aren't you?"

"Yes, well, I had to cut down the factor of my true skills by ten… if I didn't, the whole thing wouldn't fit."

Kabuto almost slipped and fell when he heard that, wondering whether to question Sin if what he said was something he truly believed, or a joke. Deciding to accept it just as it is, the silver-haired boy just took back his card, put it in his deck, shaking his head with a smile.

Before anything else happened, though, a puff of smoke appeared at the front stand, where the blackboards were, revealing a rather heavily scarred man in front of a group of older and eager looking chuunins.

"What are you bastards standing around for?" the scarred man demanded, his voice loud, hard, and with a hint of sadism that Sin found somewhat refreshing. "Sit the hell down!"

Immediately, all the genins began to look for seats. The man had a somewhat commanding aura that had scared most of them, plus his rather frightening grin would make even the braver ones think before they would try and defy him. Due to the commotion earlier with Sin and Neji's soap opera love-life as it would be called later (much to the Neji's annoyance), not all them were able to seat together with their teams.

While everyone was trying to find free seats, Sin seated beside a very pretty grass-nin with a straw hat, separated from his teammates. He smiled, and gave his usual greeting.

"Yappo," the blonde boy greeted with a wave. "I'm Sin. Lovely day, isn't it."

The grass-nin didn't reply and just stared at the blonde's blue orbs in return.

"Are all grass-nins as pretty as you?" the blonde boy asked. "If they are, I may have to visit sometimes."

Sasuke, who was just a few paces away, raised an eyebrow. Was Sin… flirting?

"You know… you remind me of a snake," Sin continued. "Have that dangerous streak. Maybe a bit sadistic, but wild. Wanna go out after the exams?"

"No," the grass-nin replied, dead panned.

"It's because I'm a ten-incher… isn't it?" Sin replied back at the rejection, making almost every genin (and some chuunin examiners too) look at the boy. Sakura seemed to be slamming her head on the table.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru whispered.

"I'm a guy," the grass-nin finally declared, his eyes glaring at the blonde somewhat dangerously.

"Oh… OH!" Sin then sighed audibly, and stood up. "Damn it… wasted my time there. I knew I should have sat near the blonde kunoichi from the sand… what was her name… Temari?"

Temari bowed her head, if to hide her blush and hide herself from any potential embarrassment (not that it helped. She was the only blonde with the Sand Village insignia).

Kiba, who was seated besides Hinata, was smirking. "Guy's got balls."

"Kiba!" Hinata flushed red.

"Temari-san! My desert rose… are you around! Can I seat beside you?" Sin called across the class.

Most of the older genins were laughing at this point, some shaking their heads. The chuunin examiners looked at each other with knowing smirks. The ones not amused were Gaara (who didn't seem to feel anything at this point), Kankuro (who hated Sin since the beginning anyway), and the scarred examiner, who just glared at the blonde boy.

"Sit down! Or do you want you and your team to fail this exam!?" he asked. Sin just obliged the man. "Now that we're all seated… my name is Ibiki Morino. I'll be your examiner for the first part of this Chuunin Exam. I will not tolerate any fighting without expressed permission. Any pigs that want to try me, I'll beat you down, and fail you immediately. Are we clear?"

No one replied, though most just settled in nodding.

"Good," Ibiki continued. He took a moment, and looked around. Nodding, he signaled a chuunins beside him. "These guys will hand out your tests, and while they do, I'll explain the rules. Asking questions won't be allowed, so shut up and listen!"

* * *

Orochimaru, disguised as the grass-nin, stole a look towards Sin. For a second, he wondered whether to stab the blonde boy or ignore him. Stabbing sounded pretty fun… but that would immediately fail Sasuke from attending the second part of the exams, where he would make his move. He needed the young Uchiha to pass through safely.

Problem was Sin himself. Orochimaru had expected Sasuke to be teamed up with the dead-last of the academy. He hadn't expected the Hokage to take in outside help. Whoever the blonde boy was, he was not from the Leaf… or Fire Country. The bastard looked a bit like Minato, the Fourth Hokage, but then again, Orochimaru had seen someone who looked like him before. Besides, the Fourth had no child. He died alone, killing his own line in the end with his sacrifice to slay the Nine-Tails.

The blonde also seemed like an idiot… of course, being a Sannin himself, he knew it could have been an act. How much of it was an act was what really ticked the Snake Sannin off. Would he admit the boy was very talented, not unlike Kabuto? He did call his silver-haired spy for what he is, in a jesting tone as it is… worse yet, he stated Orochimaru smelled like snakes.

No, the Sannin scoffed. It was impossible. His disguise was perfect. He knew how he smelled like… he smelled like the grass-nin he just killed. This Sin boy wasn't unto Kabuto nor was he unto Orochimaru himself. It was silly to even think of. The boy was too sunny, apparently wears his heart on his sleeve.

It won't be a problem, the Sannin convinced himself. He'll just summon a snake to take care of Sin soon. His summons were demanding some fresh meat already.

"Excuse me…" Kankuro called from another side of the room. "I need to go to the bathroom."

One of the examiners stepped forward, and hand-cuffed him, almost practically throwing him out. The Snake-sannin seemed snort, and looked back at his seatmate.

"Zzzz…" Sin snored as he lightly napped on his desk, much to Orochimaru's amusement. The Snake Sannin had completed the test, except for the last one, number ten, which according to the questionnaire, will be asked later. He was going to recheck his answers when he noticed Sin's symbol at the back of his black coat, then ignored it.

At the back of his mind, a little voice was trying to remind him that he had seen or heard of that sign before.

He didn't pay heed to it.

* * *

"Okay… now…" Ibiki cleared his throat. "We will begin question ten."

Some genins let out a sigh of breathe, some looking pretty glum. Ibiki grinned a bit, scanning all the tables, and noticed one particular blonde boy prone on top of the desk, apparently, sleeping.

"Hey, you!" Ibiki pointed towards the grass-nin. "Wake him up."

Sasuke and Sakura looked towards Sin, their face in a cold mask, as if their face were carved from stone, then back at Ibiki. The grass-nin hesitated slightly, then shook the blonde boy awake.

"Wha… huh…?" Sin muttered sleepily. He looked at the one who woke him up, and smiled a bit. "Hey there beauty… oh… wait… you're a guy right? Ugh… I think I'm still asleep…"

"Bored with our questions?" Ibiki asked towards Sin, who just yawned.

"Yup. Too easy," he replied rather cheerily, earning a slight glare from everyone in the room.

"Is that so?" Ibiki snorted silently, and spotted a sand genin, and like Sin, wearing a black cloak, except he had some sort of war-paint around his face. "Was your doll playing beneficial?"

Kankuro's eyes widened a bit. He had put his puppet, Karasu as an extra examiner who would write all answers down, and later give it to Kankuro when he would be escorted to the bathroom. It worked… and Kankuro thought he hadn't been caught, until Ibiki had mentioned it.

Taking what he could, Kankuro passed along Temari, and secretly handed her the paper with the answers as he went back to his desk.

"Now that we're all here… let me explain a few more rules," Ibiki declared. "These are the rules of desperation."

_Rules of desperation? _Sakura wondered.

"First of all… the tenth question, you will decide whether or not you take it."

_What kind of rule is that!? _Sasuke wondered.

"Choose!?" Temari demanded.

"My desert flower!"

The sand kunoichi ignored that call. There were important things to tackle. "What happens if we choose not to answer?"

"Simple," Ibiki seemed to shrug. "You and your team will fail the exam."

"WHAT!?" one random genin stood up. "Then we'll take the question!"

"That's when the other rule comes in…" Ibiki declared.

_Another rule!? _Sakura thought in shock. How many rules will this guy keep throwing at them?

"You will love this," the examiner grinned. "If you wish to take it… and answer incorrectly, you will forfeit your chance to take the Chuunin Exams ever again."

"WHAT!" Kiba was the one that stood up this time, and pointed an accusing finger at the man. "There are some repeat exam-takers here! What kind of stupid rule is that!?"

"My exam, my rules," Ibiki replied coolly. "You were just unlucky to have me. Of course, I will give you a way out. Those who have no confidence in answering the question, you can choose not to take it, and try it the exam again next year."

"Haha… I love this," Sin grinned, whispering towards the grass-nin beside him. "And I always thought paper exams were no fun. This takes the cake!"

Ibiki glared towards the blonde, watching him speak casually towards his seatmate. His words weren't audible, but his expression was unmistakable.

"How about you, Blondie? Want to quit?" the examiner asked.

"No sir!" Sin declared clearly.

"Hmph… well if any of you want to, speak now before I ask the tenth question."

Silence reigned in the room, all genins looking at the Examiner and towards each other. After a few minutes, someone, shaking, raised his arm up in the sky, and called it quits. He was ordered towards the exit, along with his teammates. Then another raised his or her hand, and then another, followed by another. Like an axe slamming against the tree, the numbers dwindled with each hand raised, whittling down to just a few.

Sasuke examined the exam room, knowing at least half of the teams were already gone. He had confidence in answering the question. He was more worried about Sakura, though he knew she would get it right as well. She was a brainiac after all. Sin, he knew would pass. There was no discussing it… it was something he grew to learn having him as a teammate.

Sakura thought of the same thing, so she too calmly waited for the question.

More hands raised themselves, and more teams passed through the door, their heads hung with shame and anger. With every passing genin, Ibiki just smiled mentally, counting down how many genins were left. He was making a haul…

_Not that will matter to her when she arrives. I bet she'd tell me I went too easy on them, _he thought with a smirk.

Stretching his silence further, four more teams removed themselves from the room. All that was left were genins with very serious and contemplative looks on their faces (except Sin… he looked blank). Finding no more teams willing to quit, Ibiki knew now was now time.

"Good decisions, everyone," the examiner. "To those still remaining…"

Sasuke's shoulders tensed, Sakura sweating slightly, Sin looking still blank, while the other genins, rookies or otherwise, flinched, readying themselves for the incoming question…

Ibiki gave a smile… a friendly smile for once as he announced to the genins, "You pass!"

* * *

Usually, when someone passes an exam, they pause for a moment, letting shock mix into their system. The first thought is always one of doubt, which is quickly erased by shock, then, in the end, pure and utter joy strong enough that the exam takers would jump out of their seats and celebrate.

None of the genins did that. Instead, they began to question the Examiner, like he had gone insane.

_You'd think they'd just be happy they passed… _Sin thought rather cheerfully. _Of course… that will come later._

Ibiki hadn't gone mad, as most genins thought, and began to explain that the tenth question was made as a 'Take it or don't take it' type of question which parallels into missions a chuunin would take.

"When you are given a particularly difficult mission, one which does not ensure you or your team's survival," Ibiki explained. "Would you reject the mission, thinking for your own safety, or the safety of your teammates?

"The answer is, of course… no," the man declared coldly. "There will be missions you can't avoid. Dangerous missions you have to take. As a Chuunin, you have to be courageous and survive any hardship. Those who can't put their lives on the line, clinging to the uncertain 'next time' are trash who do not deserve to the right to become chuunin.

"Those who took the question… you will be able to survive troubles you will face in the future. You all have made it through the first part of the Chuunin Exams," and Ibiki smiled warmly. "I wish you guys luck."

The genins looked at each other, grins breaking through their faces. Sin turned towards Sakura and Sasuke, who both had similar smiles on their faces, and nodded. The other genins seemed to finally breathe out the air they had been holding in, some going for their teammates, chatting rather happily.

That is, until the window of the classroom crashed, scattering enough glass to scare a few genins into standing, readying themselves. Ibiki just groaned, and turned his back on the explosion, letting the shards wash over his back without harming him. He noticed a ball of cloth exploding outwards, each corner with a kunai that attached itself into the ceiling and floor, stretching it, blocking Ibiki from view from the rest of the genins.

"Calm down you guys! Now is not the time to celebrate!" a very pretty woman with dark hair, fishnet clothing and a jacket over her, declared. Behind her was the cloth, stretched out. Written on it was her name, and declaring her the second proctor of the next examination.

"Anko Matarashi," she smirked, "Examiner for the Second Test. Now follow me!"

None of the genins responded, making the woman wonder what was wrong.

"Bad timing…" Ibiki declared coming in front. Anko looked somewhat put-off. "Could you have waited another minute or so…"

Not wanting to listen to a lecture, she quickly counted the remaining students. "Fifty-seven? You left nineteen teams? You went too easy on them!"

_Heh… knew it, _Ibiki thought.

"Bah… I'll just cut them at least in half in the second exam," Anko declared with a leery grin, making some of the genins swallow nervously. "I'll explain everything once we've moved. You, and you," she pointed towards two random Chuunins that were helping with the exam. "Bring them to Practice Area Forty-four."

"Forty-four?" they asked, surprised, then grinned widely. They looked at the genins. "Alright you bastards. Follow us!"

As the genins followed the two, Anko whispered towards Ibiki, "Which one of them is Team Seven's famous third member?"

"Blonde boy. Black jacket, with a rather odd sign on the back of his coat," the man whispered back.

"That one eh?" the woman grinned a bit. "Doesn't look much… but judging from how much censorship the Hokage's been providing around him…"

"Remember, Matarashi, you are the proctor of the second exam. You have nineteen teams to test. Don't concentrate on one boy."

"Don't worry too much, scar-face," Anko replied easily. "I just want to see what the fuss is all about." She then licked her lips, making the other chuunins in the room nervous, wondering when either special jounins would dismiss them.

"And I will see to it," she grinned.

**To Be Continued… **

* * *

_Author's Notes: Anyone expecting the Sin and Orochimaru fight… you'll have to wait till next chapter. :P Later guys, and enjoy the chapter. _


	10. Sin and the Forest of Death

**09 – Sin in the Forest of Death**

* * *

"Welcome to Training Area Forty-Four… also known to those who have visited here as the Forest of Death," Anko cackled somewhat madly, mentally gleaming with giddiness as she noticed most of the genins seemed to have looked at her and the wooded area behind her with apprehension. "This forest has taken two thousand lives in its history."

"Must be a young forest then," someone suddenly muttered.

"Sin!" another voice, female this time, declared.

"Who said that!?" Anko demanded, and immediately, the crowd around Team Seven departed.

Sakura blushed suddenly when she realized that she, Sin and Sasuke were now exposed. She then suddenly pointed towards the blonde boy. Surprisingly, the Uchiha too pointed his finger at the Sin, who looked at both of them, and rolled his eyes mockingly.

"Traitors," he declared, though he was smiling.

Anko approached the boy. Ooh, he's making this a bit too easy on her, she thought as she made a show of sashaying dangerously and seductively near him, and bent over, aware that her assets were jiggling at the boy's (and his teammate's, much to the chagrin of Sakura) face. She cupped a hand over her ear, and stated, mockingly, "Excuse me? Care to repeat what you said?"

"Wow… I thought you were young…" Sin suddenly declared cheekily, and his smile widened. "Must be like your sannin, Tsunade. Are you hiding your real looks behind some glamour, Anko-san? Or are you just really deaf?"

Sakura and Sasuke both did what was right. They just hightailed it out of there when Anko's killing intent suddenly spiked. Her face turned murderous, and quite ugly that even the Chuunin escorts began to back away.

"Humor me," was all what Anko just said.

"Alright… I said this forest must have been terribly young," Sin repeated. "I killed more men than that, and I am not even past drinking age."

"Hah!" Anko began to walk away from him. The others began to breathe a sigh of relief. "You're nothing more than a loud-mouthed kid…"

Then, she suddenly threw a kunai towards Sin's direction, cutting his cheek. Sin's smile never left his face as Anko suddenly re-appeared behind him, her arms around him, groping him in places where boys at his age shouldn't be groped in, as she licked his nicked cheek.

"Ah… young blood," Anko declared, smirking as she licked his blood, her hand on his crotch. "You don't know how much the site of blood turns me on!"

Sin turned his head slightly, one of his eyes looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "You know what, Anko-san?" he asked.

"What?"

"I think I like you," Sin smiled. "Hey, after this, maybe we ought to go out sometime…"

Sakura groaned, while the Chuunins seemed to chuckle at the cheek of the boy. Anko's face turned from angry to amusement, one of her hands ruffling his blonde hair, while the other just squeezed his crotch even tighter.

"Maybe when you're older kid," she declared airily.

It was sarcastic, obviously. Even so, Sin just smiled as he replied to her: "I'll hold on to you on that."

Anko smirked cheerily, which by other standards, was also pretty scary. Not any of the Chuunins or Genins taking the exam wanted to approach her, so it was surprising when Anko felt a present behind her. Whipping another kunai, and letting go of Sin, she was about to stab the un-welcomed presence behind her when she realized it was just the Grass-nin, his long tongue holding out the kunai she had thrown.

"Sorry… but your kunai cut a bit of my beautiful hair…" the Grass-nin stated evenly.

"Don't sneak behind me next time…" Anko stated with a thinly-veiled threat. "Next time… it won't be your hair I'll be cutting." She then moved out, towards the forest, shouting, "Alright you little brats! Get in line here, and we'll be handing you these nifty little papers, which legally absolve Konoha of any responsibility if you ever will die in here. You can only compete in the Second task if all of you sign it."

As the Chuunins began to pass the paper, Sin looked at the Grass-nin with a raised eyebrow. "She's awesome… don't you think? She has the same feel as you. Lovely snake-like smell. Blood. Danger. She's probably awesome in bed."

The Grass-nin just looked at him, and walked away, his face expressionless.

"Sheesh… don't hold much of a conversation," Sin declared. Immediately, when Sakura and Sasuke approached him, he had a rather loud and one-sided conversation with the pink-haired kunoichi about the importance of not pissing off the examiners. Sin instantaneously concluded that maybe conversations were a bit too overrated.

* * *

"Hmm… so, we're stuck in this forest for a few days, we have half a scroll, and we're supposed to find its counter-part, go to the center as a complete team, and we're done?" Sin asked, just making sure what the test parameters were.

"Yeah," Sakura nodded, a bit glad Sin was now serious. She didn't know what she would want him to be: an über-serious Sin was someone who pulled people's faces off without even batting an eye or the playful Sin flirted around like a damned pervert, and loved to piss people off.

Good thing he was not trying those charms on her. Pulling people's faces off or not, she would kill him.

"Well, Sin?" Sasuke suddenly asked, looking towards the blonde boy, who looked confused.

"Well what, Sasuke-san?"

The boy sighed, annoyed. "A plan? Anything that will help us in the test?"

Sin smiled nervously. "I'm not exactly sure I'm the one you want in making plans…"

"Why the hell not?" the Uchiha boy asked.

"Well… if it was up to me, I'd just kill anyone we meet, and see which one has our scroll," Sin shrugged. "Logically, the less competition we have, the higher our chances of passing through this test and the next."

"That's horrible!" Sakura said. "We don't have to kill them!"

"True enough, but I doubt most of the foreign-nin here will actually feel the same way," Sin stated. "Did you know the most popular method of assassinating Genin is through the Chuunin Exams?"

Sakura could not get any paler. Sasuke looked more controlled, but he looked somewhat perturbed by Sin's little tidbit, but his mind went to work immediately. While Sin's methods were… over the top, he knew he would rather do this one silently. Having a few bodies, dead or alive, more likely alive though, on the forest floor was less complicated than a massacre that would make that psycho Examiner of theirs laugh in glee.

Yes, she made an impression on the young Uchiha.

"How about we set up a home base? Place a few traps?"

"A bit too defensive… and very static," Sin noted.

"At least it was an idea," Sasuke declared defensively, a bit angry too.

Sin just smiled.

"Don't take offense, Sasuke-san," he replied. "I'm just making sure we pass this. Not all ideas are good, and to be in a good team, it is to recognize flaws in the plans. Another way good teams work is to pass off plans from one person to the next… unless one of your teammates is a complete moron, and I doubt we have any idiots in this team. Right, Sakura-san?"

The girl blushed. Sasuke looked a bit conflicted, but then nodded with agreement. He then looked at the girl for a moment, before asking, "How about you, Sakura? Have any ideas?"

Again, she blushed. Heavily this time. For a moment, she began to act like that peculiar Hyuuga girl, but to her credit, she switched her, what Sin would call, 'crush mode' off and began to ponder on a plan on how to get the proper scroll.

"I do… it's quick but risky," Sakura declared.

"How risky?" Sasuke asked.

"If something goes wrong," she swallowed, "we'd die."

"Then it's a simple matter, is it not?" Sin replied. "We just won't die."

"Easy for you to say," Sasuke scoffed. "I still remember Wave Country, Sin."

"Yeah… me too," Sakura shivered. "You scared the hell out of me."

Sin blinked, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, so you won't be having anymore dreams of going to hell because you have annoyed Sas…"

"SIN!"

The plan was simple: a systematic hunting of other teams. Sticking together as a group, Team Seven then began to explore the forest in a triangular formation, which would easily defend them from all sides, and ambush the teams closest to them as they moved towards the center.

Then Sasuke added another plan. If they haven't succeeded in getting the scroll they needed when they got to the center, they would lay down traps for the incoming team. It was a two-part plan from both Sakura and Sasuke, both improved enough to work well for their task. Sin himself had heartily agreed with them.

During the excursion, Team Seven encountered one team… the battle was swift as it was underwhelming… at least in Sasuke's opinion. A team of Rain-nin was trying to move into a pincer attack against them, surrounding them, and when the time was right, attack. Sasuke easily spotted them, and signaled Sakura who got a nifty attack planned out. Minutes later, an unconscious Rain-nin team was tied to one of the enormous trees of the woodland area, and for their trouble, Team Seven received a scroll similar to theirs.

"Damn it…" Sasuke cursed as he studied the scroll they have taken.

"There are others," Sakura pointed out, trying to placate her crush. Sin just nodded with her sentiments.

"We cannot all succeed in one try, Sasuke-san. If that were true, I'd be the king of this world, and all lovely women would be my slaves."

"SIN!"

"Willing slaves," the blonde corrected. "Can't have slaves that won't be willing now… where's the fun in that?"

"I bet the unwilling slaves are a bit more fun," Sasuke muttered.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

Sin just smirked. "Now you're getting it, Sasuke-san."

"It was a joke," the raven-haired boy replied evenly.

"Really? I would have thought it was serious…"

Sin never got to finish his sentence. A strong draft of wind, unnaturally strong, suddenly enveloped around Team 7 and blew past them. Covering themselves, Sakura and Sasuke knew it was an unnatural wind. It was a ninjutsu, and a very powerful one to boot. As the wind died down, the raven-haired boy called to Sakura and Sin to regroup. An attack was coming, and the wind was nothing more than a warning. Sakura responded immediately. Sin did not. Sasuke growled, and looked where the blonde was, only to find an empty space.

The wind had blown their third teammate away.

* * *

Somewhere, a bit far from the location of Sasuke and Sakura was Sin, who sat up from his prone position. First thing he did when he stood up was to wipe the dirt off his jacket, scowling as he did.

"Wind Jutsu... talk about lack of finesse," he muttered to himself, and adjusted his shades. He then began to wipe the dirt off his pants as well, not noticing a shadow creep behind him, towering over him.

There was a slight hissing sound, and Sin stopped what he was doing, stood up straight. He had an inquiring eyebrow raised, and turned around. Behind him was a giant snake, looking at him hungrily and menacingly.

"Really... snake summons?" the blonde asked with slight distaste. "I'm insulted."

And the snake suddenly charged at him, its mouth open and swallowed him in one gulp. The snake looked satisfied, its tongue flickering out for a moment, before its eyes suddenly widened, and a hand suddenly poked out of its body. The snake hissed in pain as the hand retreated, and eight fingers came out, gripping the sides of the man-made whole, and slowly, it began to tear it wider and wider.

The next scene played out like a horror-slash film. Blood, gore and guts flew as the snake split apart with such a force that it didn't disappear in a smoke, indicating that the summoned snake had completely died, a very rare occasion if one would ask any competent ninja. From the corpse of the now dead summoned animal, Sin came out, looking somewhat angry as he saw the state of his clothes.

"Disgusting," he muttered.

Someone was going to pay.

* * *

Sasuke wondered what he did in his past life that put him in such a situation. Just a few moments trying to look for Sin, a Grass-nin, the one that Sin had been flirting with during the Second Test (until he was found out to be a guy, of course) was looking at them, grinning such a malicious grin. Asking (more like demanding) the nin what he wanted, the youngest Uchiha and Sakura were rewarded by the most overwhelming killing intent they had ever received. It was even worse than the ones they have received from Zabuza on Wave Country.

Crippled almost instantly by fear, his whole body shook. Behind him, Sakura was beginning to look sick. The very oppressive feeling of dread, the sick smell of the air… the whole experience was something Sakura would not want to feel again, ever.

"Who are you!?" Sasuke demanded, trying to cope with the fear. Nothing. He was still shaking. "What do you want?"

"Who I am isn't important, yet," the genin smirked. "What I want though, Sasuke-kun… well, you'll find out."

Familiarity was not comforting. In the shinobi business, having some fame is normal, but when someone addresses one with such familiarity, he or she would have to either be in caution towards the person they were confronting, or quit the business altogether. Sasuke would not quit anytime soon, which left him in a bit of an alert towards the stranger.

"Don't play with me," Sasuke tried to growl. It did not come out right. "You're after the scroll."

An emotion played across the stranger's face. It vanished quickly as it came. "Of course, the scroll. What else would I be after?"

Sasuke immediately took it out of his pocket, and showed it to the man. "I have it."

"I can see that," the man replied.

"If I give you this, will you leave us?"

The statement caused a flurry of shock went through Sakura's system. Before she could even stop herself, she shouted, "What…!? Sasuke-kun…!"

"Shut it!" Sasuke growled at her. He did not see her flinch at his tone, nor did he care. For the first time since his brother killed his family, he felt pure unadulterated fear once more, and it was not because of a killing intent. This was something raw and primal. Whoever the man was, he was no genin. He radiated with power.

The grass-nin looked somewhat disappointed, but smiled, nevertheless, as if he had been expecting that reaction. "Cutting a deal to spare yourself and your friend? A very smart move."

"I disagree."

Heads whipped towards the source of the voice. On a tall tree branch was Sin, carrying something rather large on his back. He was staring at them, his expression mostly hidden behind his sunglasses. His lips were in a thin line, and his clothes… well, Sasuke thought his clothes looked terrible; all wet and soggy with some slime.

"You… survived," the grass-nin stated, disappointed apparent in his voice.

"Well, considering how little effort you have put to try and take my life, I would have thought that was obvious," and saying that, he threw what he was carrying towards the group. A huge head of a dead snake landed between Sasuke and the grass-nin.

Sasuke's eyes widened and Sakura jumped back, yelping. The head had serrated ridges, as if it was hacked with a rusted axe rather than cut with a sharp cleaver. The grass-nin seemed to take in those details as well, his disappointment now replaced with something else. A healthy dose of disbelief and a little begrudging respect.

"Impressive jutsu to kill a summon creature," the grass-nin muttered, his eyes still on his dead summoned snake. "Though your cutting techniques need work."

"I'm not a big fan of ninjutsu, I'm afraid," Sin replied, appearing right behind the grass-nin, who stood still, very much surprised. "It hurts my fingers, you see."

Quickly moving out of the way the grass-nin slithered like a snake, half of him wondering how in the world this boy sneaked behind him. When he was clear, he just waited for the boy to react, and was only given the sight of the blonde standing where he had left him. For a moment, the grass-nin just stood there, waiting for an attack he thought might be coming, but nothing happened. He just stood there, unmoved.

Why would he just stand there? the grass-nin thought, slowly circling the boy. A thought hit him.

Looking around, he knew he was right. The Uchiha and the pink-haired kunoichi were gone, disappeared while he had been distracted. More emotions filled in his chest. Caution was gone… all that was left was anger.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, wait!" Sakura panted slightly as she jumped from an enormous branch, chasing after her crush. "We left Sin alone!"

Sasuke wanted to laugh. They left him alone? The reason why they were able to escape the grass-nin's attention was because Sin threw a head of a giant snake between them, and distracted the fake-genin.

"Sin chose to be left behind, Sakura," Sasuke muttered. "I'd think he would want us away."

Sakura pondered on those words for a few moments, before she nodded. "Well, I guess that's fine. I mean, the grass-nin felt powerful, but he's still a genin."

The raven-haired boy almost snorted. Was the girl dense?

"Sakura… that person wasn't a genin," Sasuke muttered.

"What?"

"Whoever that grass-nin was… he wasn't a genin. He's much more than that… more powerful than anyone I have ever encountered," the raven-haired boy declared.

Sakura paused once more, this time, fear passing through her eyes. "Sin will be fine… right?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He didn't know what to answer. Part of him believed that this person was even more powerful than the strange blonde.

If that was true then I am doing nothing but running away, a part of him commented. He had condemned Sin to die. However, even so, the words of his brother came back to haunt him.

_"Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life. And one day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me."_

Sasuke did not stop running.

* * *

"Ingenious," Orochimaru commented as he stared at the blonde boy. "Very well executed distraction. I commend you for that, but my dear little boy, you may have bitten more than you can chew."

"Oh?" Sin smiled slightly, looking amused. "I'm not the one lacking in information, Orochimaru-san."

The disguised Sannin blinked, and his eyes narrowed. Once more, he began to circle around Sin, and tried to put on a confident face. "If you know my name, then you must know you are in a heap of trouble."

"Hardly," Sin declared with confidence. "My dear Orochimaru-san… if you're trying to scare me, you're a bit off. One, you don't even know who I am. Two, I know who you are. And three…"

Sin never got to finish the sentence as a blade suddenly protruded out of his chest. Behind him was Orochimaru, who was grinning widely, his tongue elongated, holding the sword that he was using to stab the blonde's back.

"Three, you don't turn your back to a shinobi," Orochimaru declared, and took the blade out with a rather sickening sound. Satisfied that he had eliminated an annoyance, he turned away, his tongue moving back to his mouth, swallowing the sword he used, and looked towards the forest grounds, hoping to see where his prey had gone.

Run wherever you want, Sasuke-kun, Orochimaru grinned. I will find you.

"You know, that was really rude."

Taken aback, the Snake Sannin turned around; the blonde he had supposedly killed just a few seconds ago had stood up, wiping the dirt from his clothes, only for the boy groan as he touched a slimy patch.

"Impossible!" Orochimaru declared as he opened his mouth again, his long tongue extracting the blade he had used earlier.

"Ah, the Kusanagi," Sin stated, looking intently at the sword that had protruded him earlier. "No wonder the wound feels a bit tingly. Very potent chakra poison secreted when the wielder wants it to. Extendable as well, with high cutting power. A very respectable weapon."

Orochimaru was not amused. "Who are you?"

"Ah, now you're interested," Sin said with mirth. "Typical egomaniacs. Unless you pull a back-from-the-dead trick, they'll think you're beneath them."

He then turned serious.

"You, my slithery friend, have some really bad habits. Ordering a snake summon to eat me? That's just disgusting. And how about liberally stabbing someone in the middle of a speech? Good thing the Order has some good tailors and effective detergents. My clothes wouldn't have lasted this long if it were not the case."

Amazingly, the only thing Orochimaru heard from that mouthful were two words. The Order. He suddenly felt his insides freeze, the Kusanagi almost falling off the slackened grip of his tongue. He immediately backed a step.

"Oh, did I say Order?" Sin suddenly declared, mocking a 'caught myself there' expression. "I meant the fondue from that restaurant is quite terrific. In all seriousness, though, Orochimaru-san, I think you know what you are up against now. I have come to take back what is the Order's. You really shouldn't have tried to steal from us."

"I have killed one of you, and I will do so again!" Orochimaru declared as he shifted the blade to his hand, gripping it into a position, ready for an attack.

"Correction, you have killed a trainee," Sin stated calmly. "A rather promising one, and took that sword from his possession. I would love to make this personal, and say that trainee you killed had been my friend, but I think it'd be a something of a cliché."

The two antagonists began to circle around each other. Sin's smile never left its place, while Orochimaru's grip on his sword relaxed, trying to read the other boy. They only had a moment, before both moved against each other at the same time. The Kusanagi blade sliced through the air, trying to stab Sin's shoulder, which moved immediately out of the way, and he countered with a spinning kick, riding along the momentum of his dodge. Orochimaru, luckily, did not overextend, and easily went away from kick, moved slightly towards the left, spun, and tried to take a stab on the side. Sin deflected the blade with a simple flick of his arm, moved into the older man's defenses, and hit him with a solid punch in the gut.

Orochimaru's face registered pain, only to harden, and solidify into a brown façade. Sin raised an eyebrow, and felt the whole body suddenly seemed to soften on impact of his fist, and harden at the same time, trapping his fist. Easily extracting that, he jumped high and managed to dodge a group of snakes suddenly appearing beneath him, trying to trap him. Landing on one of the enormous trees of the forest, Sin began to run along side its bark as if he was running normally, his blue eyes beneath his shades roaming around, searching, and looking for anything that would give the older man's position away. Spotting a flash of light in one of the trees, which Sin guessed was a reflection of the sun from the Kusanagi, and jumped from the trunk he had been running on, and like a missile, launched himself towards the glint.

The leaves began to fall. Anyone watching closely would spot two shadows inside the top of the trees, covered mostly by leaves, ramming against each other, sparks of metal and the grunts of the two forces fighting against each other echoed slightly over the rather empty spot of the forest.

Orochimaru was quick and agile, and had inhuman flexibility that not even Sin could match. It was bad enough to dodge sword strikes, but now, Orochimaru was going all out, using his legs and other hand and even tongue to fight back. Sin just continued to smile, taking those hits to stride, and hitting back towards Orochimaru, hard. After a few moments, the conflict ended with Sin's boot suddenly hitting Orochimaru in the face, when the man had strayed too close in trying to get a stab at the boy.

Flying away, the Snake Sannin impacted one of the many trees rather painfully, creating a rather deep dent in the enormous tree trunk, and fell to the Earth. Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs on his head, he realized he was no match for this one. The trainee himself had been easy to dispose, but the Snake Sannin there had the advantage, the surprise, and a plan. Right now, he was playing to the hands of this one… a full member of the Order.

Orochimaru bit his thumb on his right hand, his sharp canines puncturing his skin easily. However, before he could swipe it with the tattoo on his other hand, a hand stopped the action, and the Snake Sannin looked up and saw blue piercing eyes staring back at him.

"Ah-ah," Sin admonished. "No summoning your big snake friends. Its time to rip your head off."

It was a desperate move. Orochimaru flicked his left wrist, his fingers suddenly hitting Sin on the gut, quickly moving on a pattern. Symbols glowed where his fingers had touched, and Sin raised an eyebrow as he felt his whole body was locking up, and with a deft twist, Orochimaru forced Sin to let go of his right. Now with his two hands free, turning around and quickly did more movements, this time with both hands, towards the ground. More symbols appeared, and Sin quickly recognized them. Finally putting the finishing touches, Orochimaru took out one explosive tag, and placed it in the center of the symbol. He forced Sin near the tag, and moved away.

Sin closed his eyes as he saw the tag suddenly brighten, and the whole forest shook as an explosion rocked the air. Almost all genins had stopped, frozen at how powerful the explosion felt, reaching towards the ends of the forest, and even towards the village.

Only one figure did not look back. He smiled somewhat, hoping he had gotten the better of another member of the Order, but knew it was best not to assume. His plan had failed because of the meddling blonde… and he was injured and too drained to continue the hunt. Besides, with an explosion that big, even the Hokage and his damn ANBU will now be involved.

He lost this round, but it was not over yet.

* * *

Anko arrived at the scene first. The devastation was enormous. The explosion had burned down a large portion of the forest, most of its trees cut down, and the natural landscape turning into one huge depression. At the center of the depression was mostly black ash, though she quickly spotted one pale body in there. Jumping down from the branch she had been standing in, she walked slowly towards the body, careful to expand her senses so no one could get the drop on her. When she had reached the edge of the depression, she looked down, and saw the almost naked body of Sin, who was laying there, unconscious.

She jumped down, sliding down the cone that had formed, kneeled beside the boy, her fingers going towards the neck, and felt a strong pulse. Suddenly, the boy's hand reached out and grabbed hers, his eyes opening.

For a moment, he looked slightly confused as he looked at her. Recognition was then apparent in his expression, and slowly, he let her hand go.

"Oh, it's you," he said. "If you are going to molest me, please, feel free."

Anko bit back a scathing reply. "What happened here kid?"

"An Fūinjutsu boosted explosive tag," Sin replied easily.

"You're lucky to be alive," Anko replied, her eyes narrowing. "You were in the center of the whole thing. You shouldn't be alive."

"Yes, I do get that lot," Sin smiled. "I will expect I will surprise Orochimaru-san when I see him again."

"Orochimaru?" Anko hissed. "You saw him? Where is he!?"

"He's gone," Sin replied easily. "Somewhere."

Anko hissed as she suddenly straddled the boy, her forearm going towards the blonde's neck, pushing slightly. "Gone where?" she asked, this time with more force.

"Now we're talking," Sin smiled slightly.

"Where!?" the woman shouted.

"Anko!" a voice from above called her.

The woman stiffened, recognizing the voice. She straightened up, and looked behind her, to see they were surrounded by ANBU, Hokage, and a man she did not recognize dressed in black. She immediately stood up.

"Hokage-sama."

"Stand down," the old man stated.

"But sir… he knows where Orochimaru is!" Anko said.

"I gathered that," the Hokage replied. "Even so, strangling him won't be helpful at all, now would it?"

Anko frowned, breathed softly, and replied softly, "Yes, sir."

Sin stood up, looking at himself. The explosion took out his coat and undershirt, and left his pants in tatters. He only said, "Why that snake-y bastard… he done in and destroyed my clothes."

"I'll get you your extra clothes," the Undertaker, the man dressed in black, said. He then walked away from Sin's point of view.

The Hokage watched as the Undertaker disappear in the shadows of the forest, and noticed a few surprised reactions from his ANBU. He shook his head, and looked towards the young blonde with a small smile.

"You worried us for a moment there, Sin," the Hokage said. "Are you… okay?"

"Nothing permanent. I'm a bit more concerned at my state of dress," Sin shrugged.

The Third Hokage noticed most of the ANBU giving each other silent signals. He understood the subject discussed silently among them. It started with the Undertaker being so close to the Hokage that made them rightfully nervous, and then when he suddenly disappeared without a trace, just a few meters away spooked them. Then here comes Sin, who was in the center of a massive explosion, and from the sound of it, had fought Orochimaru, and lived without as much as a scratch. He was more worried about the destruction of his clothes.

"So, what happened?" the Hokage asked.

"Orochimaru had called in a strong Wind Jutsu to knock me away from Team Seven. He tried to feed me to an enormous snake. Killed it, ripped its head off, and searched for Team Seven," Sin said neutrally, as if he was giving a report on the weather. "Found them with a Grass-nin who smelled strongly of snakes. I knew then who he was. He seemed specifically targeting Sasuke-san. I interfered, we battled, and hit me with a very nice Fūinjutsu that froze me, taking me by surprise, and used a boosting Fūin under an exploding tag. Big boom."

Everyone, except Anko, the Hokage, and Sin seemed to wince. They all had the same thoughts in their heads: He survived that!?

"Did you see where he had gone?" the Hokage asked.

"No. Sorry," Sin replied. "I closed my eyes before the whole thing exploded. But at least you know who he is after, right?"

"True," the Hokage said, and turned to look at the ANBU around him. "Form teams of threes. Scout the area. Spread out and find any traces of Orochimaru. If you find him, get someone to contact Anko." He then looked at the woman. "Anko, go back to the central base. Continue your responsibilities as the proctor, and at the same time, use the communication system to coordinate the search."

"Hokage-sama, with respect, I want to join the search," Anko declared. "Alone," she added.

The Hokage looked at her impassively. "You have your orders. Get to it."

Anko sighed, and with reluctance, nodded. "Yes sir." And she disappeared.

The Hokage sighed as he watched as the woman disappeared, and slowly, the ANBU circling Sin had vanished as well, leaving two guards in the shadows, well hidden, above them. For a moment, the Hokage thought he saw the boy's blue eyes immediately look where his two guards were. Part of him wanted to believe he imagined it… but he was no fool.

People as powerful as the Order are not to be fully trusted. He knew that much. He had no idea why either Sin or the Undertaker were here, nor would he expect a clear answer from them. A small part of his mind had been suspecting something of a plot, whether it would benefit the village or not he did not know.

Still, part of him trusted that Sin and the Undertaker were not here to harm the village… at least, not intentionally. They had another reason. He guessed it had to do something with Orochimaru. May the gods have mercy on his former student if that was true, though, for the Hokage doubted the Order will.

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

_Author's Notes: _

_Sorry if took a while. I have been trying to read up on creative writing to help me improve on some story elements, and have partaken in reading many books lately. Most obvious is Artemis Fowl series, the Septimus Heap series, and finally, the Dresden Files. I'd readily recommend Butcher's novels to you guys. The books are a great read. _

_Next will be the next Atelier Uzumaki chapter. I also got Mana Khemia 2, though I don't know if I'll put the story elements of that one in here. Anyways, later! _


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